


Hungry is the ghost

by deepestbluest



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, And adopt Naruto, And kiss Kakashi, But someone has to provide therapy to the dead, Comforting the dead is IN, Exorcisms are OUT, His power? Unaddressed trauma, Is it a good plan no it is not, Like ninety percent of Konoha is in this, M/M, My one and only swing at Iruka being OP, So I’m just tagging the major players, Umino Iruka is a man with a plan, Unfortunately so is stabbing them but nobody’s perfect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:26:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 36,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22470100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deepestbluest/pseuds/deepestbluest
Summary: The one where Iruka doesn’t become a shinobi and devotes himself to helping spirits instead.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka
Comments: 50
Kudos: 380





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to Marissa Nadler for the killer song title I’m stealing. Very sorry I don’t actually like the song, ma’am
> 
> For optional reference, when I was writing this, I was envisioning Iruka dressed like [the gun brother from Yojimbo](https://www.carolinatheatre.com/content/uploads/2018/05/1200600-15.jpg) but without the scarf
> 
> I smashed together some bits of purification rituals and exorcisms from a bunch of religions, along with folklore and nonsense I borrowed from pop culture because I needed to stop googling for accuracy and start actually writing

The mission Kakashi was given is simple. Travel to the remote town on the outskirts of the Land of Fire that sent for Konoha’s help, dispatch the village’s “restless spirit”- a missing nin trying to cover their tracks, more likely than not- that was murdering people, then come home. It’s unlikely to be a trap.

He was given a good number of reports on what the so-called spirit looks like and how it behaves.

He got complacent.

The spirit attacks by swinging its once-human hands at him, slashing with long claws that could easily shear flesh from bone, then defends by becoming incorporeal.

All the while, the spirit wails horribly. The sound is piercing, so pained it’s nauseating, and the spirit doesn’t need to draw breath, so the sound never ceases.

Nothing Kakashi has thrown at it has made it so much as stutter. He’s out of everything. Shuriken, kunai, exploding tags… everything. And for nothing. All of it passed through the spirit as if it weren’t there. Even when he managed to make contact with it with a sustained Raikiri.

The only thing the chakra he’d gathered in his hand had done was burn him.

Genjutsu didn’t work. Ninjutsu didn’t work. Taijutsu didn’t work. His Sharingan couldn’t even detect the spirit.

He’s out of options and hasn’t even made the thing stagger, much less wounded it.

The spirit will continue its rampage. The villagers will continue to die, and the next shinobi will be as ill-prepared as Kakashi.

Lying on the cold ground, out of breath and out of chakra, Kakashi can feel his long-overdue death rushing to meet him. The cuts from the spirit’s claws burn like the flesh is warming up from a deep cold. His hip throbs from landing on it after a branch gave way under him as he tried to escape from the dark woods. He should have seen the weakness in the branch, but he’s exhausted and the canopy above obscured the light from the full moon.

Where he fell is below a break in the canopy.

The spirit sways as it approaches, its disproportionately long arms swinging from side to side.

Kakashi swallows hard. He isn’t done fighting; he’s just run out of plans. You can always make another plan.

He won’t escape the spirit. That much is clear. This isn’t an ANBU mission, which is good, because he doesn’t have the strength even to erase himself. At least the villagers know to hide his body until Konoha nin come for it.

There’s something unsettling about the thought of his body being left in the open they find it, but there isn’t much he can do about that, other than not dying.

He struggles toward a thick patch of underbrush that would normally be a few steps away. He’s still clawing weakly at the ground, going nowhere, when a frigid hand with fingers as long as Kakashi’s forearm closes around his ankle.

His heart pounds in his ears as he struggles ineffectually to pull his leg free.

The spirit pulls on his leg in the opposite direction, and Kakashi can’t do anything to stop it as it begins to drag him away.

He wants to close his eyes and concentrate on finding a way to escape, but even closing his eyes takes energy he doesn’t have.

Maybe that’s a good thing. If his eyes were closed, he wouldn’t have seen the man drop of a tree a few steps ahead of the spirit.

Kakashi tries to warn him away, but all that comes out is a weak rasp.

Helpless, he watches the man approach the spirit.

“Out for a walk again, Ayame-san?” the man asks. His voice is warm and steady; the smile he gives the spirit looks genuine.

The spirit comes to a stop and lets out a new sound. This one is more like a whimper.

Kakashi immediately misses the wailing.

Unaffected, the man comes closer. “Your daughter told me she was afraid you’d hurt yourself by accident, so she’d been keeping you company in the house. But here you are!”

Another whimper, this one ending in a rasp, shakes through Kakashi’s skull. He fights the urge to shrink from the noise to watch as the man comes closer still.

“It’s late, though, Ayame-san,” he says. Holding out a hand to the spirit, his expression softens. “I heard you were sick, but I got here too late to say goodbye. Sorry about that.”

The spirit’s grip on Kakashi’s leg tightens. The longer it touches him, the farther numbness creeps up his leg.

Unlike before, the spirit doesn’t seem upset with Kakashi. It doesn’t even seem aware of him. He can feel his bones creaking under the pressure of an inhuman fist, though. The thought of his leg snapping makes Kakashi’s stomach roll.

He can’t begin to guess why the man is still holding out his hand.

“You told me all about the village.” The man shakes his head, and Kakashi realizes what he’d thought was a shadow from the trees is a long scar. “The history your family has kept is what saved everyone. I never would have thought to look for a cave, nevermind one hidden under a lake. I wish I could have stayed with you, but the spirit haunting that house had to be helped. Eri-chan couldn’t sleep because of his howling, remember? She kept crying, and her parents were so scared they couldn’t sleep either.”

The spirit tips its head and lets out a piercing howl.

“You’re amazing, Ayame-san! You saved your town.”

Another howl rips through the spirit, this one even louder and warbling.

Slowly stepping closer, the man lays his hand over the one the spirit has locked around Kakashi.

He doesn’t seem to notice Kakashi’s ankle in the spirit’s grasp.

“It hurts, doesn’t it?” he asks. “They didn’t bury you right. It was an accident, but it still hurts and keeps you awake at night, right? You’re tired, and all you can think about is how much you wanted to stay and look after Eri like you said you would. You keep your promises, right, Ayame-san? It hurts to think you broke one.”

The spirit whimpers, but its hold on Kakashi doesn’t change.

Still, the man doesn’t waver. His voice is as warm as it was when he first appeared. “Your children will lay you to rest properly even if they have to dig your with their bare hands, Ayame-san. You should have heard them when they found out you weren't resting correctly; they're fiercely kind, just like their mother. Trust them to love you like you love them. Like you love Eri-chan, who’s safe, as are her parents, because of you. You didn't break your promise- you saved them. How could you have looked after her better than that?”

Again, the spirit whimpers.

And still, the man doesn’t waver. “But you know, this place isn’t your home anymore. You can feel it, right? Your husband is ready to bring you to your new one. You’ve missed him so much; he’s missed you, too. Why don’t you let him come get you?”

Kakashi’s leg hits the ground hard enough for the thump to echo. He barely notices it. The spirit’s inhuman body is hunching around itself, its impossible hands covering its contorted face.

Over the last weak echo of Kakashi’s leg hitting the ground, the spirit begins to sob. Kakashi wishes it would go back to wailing. The wailing was inhuman. The sobbing, though…

The sobbing is human.

As if he isn’t facing a monster, the man wraps his arms around the spirit, gently tucking its head against his, and the sobbing gets louder.

“They understand why you had to go, Ayame-san,” he says quietly. “Being left behind hurts, but they know you’ll come back for them. That's why you have to go. They need you to come back for them.”

The sobbing gets even louder, the spirit’s misery growing impossibly louder as it echoes and the echoes echo, but as Kakashi watches, the spirit begins to shrink. The ghastly limbs shorten into an old woman’s arms and legs. The fingers follow suit. The chest and belly condense from the elongated torso of a monster into the proportions of an old woman.

Even the face shifts, the ghastly, unchanging expression softening into a face that could easily belong to any of the grandmothers in Konoha.

The echoing stops as the man curls around her, hunching so her head lies above his heart.

The man keeps hold of her through the change and the long minutes that follow as the woman sobs into his chest, his expression drawn. He strokes her back and speaks lowly into her hair.

Eventually, she pulls away. Her delicate fingers wipe at her eyes, pushing away the last of her tears. “Iruka-kun? Is that you?”

Iruka’s smile returns. “Welcome back.”

“I don’t- What was I doing?” Ayame looks down at Kakashi. “Who is he?”

“He’s a ninja. He came to see why you were so unhappy.”

“I see… I died, didn’t I?”

Iruka nods. “You did.”

“Am I stuck here, then?” Her voice quavers. “Am I going to be like that other spirit-?”

Shaking his head, Iruka lays a hand on Ayame’s arm. “I told you, didn’t I? Your husband is waiting for you.”

“Where is he? I don’t see him... ”

“He’s in the next world, remember? He’s a spirit who left without regrets. He can’t return to this world.”

“So how do I get to him, Iruka-kun? If I’m a spirit, I should be where he is. So why-”

“That’s why I’m here. Remember?” Iruka takes his hand off Ayame’s arm and holds both hands out in the space between them, palms up. “You got a little lost on your way to his world. I’m going to help you get on track.”

She gives him a long, worried look, but he doesn’t rush her. He doesn’t say anything. He just holds out his hands and waits.

Slowly, she lifts her hands and closes them around his. As soon as she does, her body begins to blur, the forest beyond her coming into view. Kakashi tries to blink her back into focus, but her body only grows harder to distinguish.

Iruka smiles down at her kindly and bows his head slightly. “I’m sorry you got hurt, Ayame-san,” he says quietly, “but I’m glad I got to see you again. I wanted to say goodbye properly.”

Her body is almost entirely translucent now, but Ayame’s face is still visible enough for Kakashi to make out her own smile. “You’re a good boy, Umino Iruka. Eisen and I will look for your parents and tell them what you did. They’ll be proud to know their son grew up so well.”

“Please do!"

As he says it, Ayame disappears, every trace of her gone from the woods.

Kakashi struggles to sit up and revises, _Almost every trace._

He groans as he tries to sort out up from down, and Iruka looks over at him sharply. He watches Kakashi evenly for a long moment before sighing and walking over.

“I’d think shinobi would be better at escaping,” he says sternly. Despite his tone, when he steps closer, Kakashi notices the anger has already left his expression.

Kakashi leverages himself to his feet.

“Thanks for the save,” he says. “I would have been dead if you hadn’t come.”

Iruka’s eyes narrow again. “I came to help Ayame. If she’d killed you in her confusion, that would have made it harder for her to find peace.”

“Is that what you did? Helped her find peace? Even though she killed all those people?” Kakashi asks. He isn’t angry, though Iruka clearly is. Kakashi has never dealt with a spirit before. He’s just curious. He’s never been so ineffective. If peace is what they need, then that will never change. Kakashi can do a lot of things. Bringing peace isn’t one of them.

Jaw clenching, Iruka lifts his chin. “Becoming a spirit is disorienting. They go from dying to being cured of all their pains in an instant. They can see and hear everyone they love, but none of those people know they’re still here. They don’t know why they’re here. The world goes on without them, and they have no one to promise them that that doesn’t mean their lives weren’t meaningless.

“In Ayame’s case, her body wasn’t buried properly. She wanted to be laid to rest next to her husband, and when she wasn’t, her anger and grief kept her here. She couldn’t know that trying as hard to talk to the living as she was would kill them. So yes, I helped her find peace. Restless spirits don’t become monstrous by choice, ninja-san. They’re like children. They need kindness more than they need hatred.”

“Oh.”

The anger melts from Iruka’s face. Without it, he looks exhausted.

“I can’t resurrect the people Ayame accidentally killed, but I can help you get back to Konoha. She would want that.”

“How do you- Ah. The headband.” It’s hard to think without all his blood.

Iruka nods. “And everyone knows the townsfolk were desperate and begged to have a shinobi sent to help.”

“Not a priest?”

“There’s no shrine nearby, and shinobi travel faster.”

“I see.”

“You’re going to lose consciousness in about thirty seconds, by the way,” Iruka tells him. “Just being near a spirit drains the living, and you got in a fight with one. You’ll probably sleep for a few days and your body will need a week or so to heal, but you’ll be fine.”

Kakashi feels himself frown. “How do you know all this?”

The smile Iruka gives him is sharp. “First hand experience.”

“They don’t train priests like they used to, huh? Less books and rituals, more getting your hands dirty?”

Iruka laughs not unkindly, and Kakashi’s vision grows dark around the edges. “I’m sorry, but I’m not a priest.”

Kakashi’s frown grows deeper. “Then how-”

The thought disappears as he blacks out.

* * *

When Kakashi wakes up, he’s in the hospital. He sits up tentatively, wary of the injuries the spirit inflicted, but he doesn’t feel so much as a twinge. He’s felt worse after going drinking with Guy.

If anything, he feels better now than he had before he left.

Curious, he tests more of his body, looking for some sign of injury.

He’s on his feet, testing for some sign of the fight he’d had, when a medical-nin comes in.

“Oh, Kakashi-san,” the man says. He looks surprised. “You’re awake.”

“How long was I out?”

“Three days, if the man who returned you was telling the truth.”

Kakashi nods. Iruka had no reason to lie, and he struck Kakashi as someone who doesn’t have patience for unnecessary deception. “He probably was. Is he still around?”

Immediately, the nin’s expression turns cagey. “He is.”

“Where?”

The caginess only grows. “He’s with the hokage.”

“Why?”

“The hokage wanted to speak with him. I wasn’t told why.”

He isn’t lying, but he isn’t telling the entire truth either.

“Nakamura-san,” Kakashi begins, only to be interrupted by an ANBU appearing in the window.

“Senpai, the hokage is looking for you,” Tenzou says. “Please come quickly.”

At Kakashi’s nod, he disappears the way he came.

Nakamura sighs. It sounds relieved rather than frustrated.

 _That’s worrying,_ Kakashi thinks as he, too, heads out the window.

* * *

As Nakamura said, Iruka is sitting with the hokage, the two of them facing each other across the desk. They look over at Kakashi in unison.

“You look better,” Hiruzen says brightly.

Iruka’s expression pinches. He looks less exhausted but only marginally. The curious scar across his nose is just as stark in daylight as it was at night. “He’d almost have to.”

The rebuke comes quickly. “You should be happier, Iruka. Kakashi’s recovery has lessened a great deal of the suspicion aimed at you. Shinobi don’t forgive or forget, as you well know.”

“I wasn’t aware that I did anything that required forgiveness,” Iruka replies, stiffening.

The tension in the room, already almost physical, grows thicker. 

Hiruzen sighs. “You’re right, of course. Technically, you didn’t break any rules. But there are other things that can be broken, Iruka, and you did break those.”

Iruka dips his head, but Kakashi gets the feeling it isn’t as respectful as it ought to be. “My apologies for making my own choices, Hokage-sama.”

Kakashi watches the back and forth with a mounting feeling of dread. “Am I intruding?”

“No,” the Third and Iruka say at once.

Hiruzen smiles at Iruka, but Iruka lifts his chin defiantly, just as he had with Kakashi.

“Iruka brought you back,” Hiruzen explains. “According to him, shinobi can’t fight spirits.”

A muscle in Iruka’s jaw jumps as he clenches his teeth.

Uncertain what that means, Kakashi ignores it. “He’s right,” he tells Hiruzen. “Nothing I did had any effect on it.”

“On _her,”_ Iruka corrects sharply.

“On her,” Kakashi allows. Iruka looks at him in surprise, and Kakashi shrugs. He saw Ayame, too. There’s no point in denying it. “She would have killed me if he hadn’t stopped her.”

Surprise flickers over Hiruzen's face. “Iruka stopped her? How?”

Iruka’s face twitches. When he speaks, his voice is tight and too loud to be polite. “I’m right here, and I already told you.”

“And I listened to you. Now I’m asking Kakashi to tell me what he saw.” Hiruzen must see the impatience growing on Iruka’s face because he adds, “Iruka, you know I’m not doing this to hurt you. The more Kakashi can confirm, the better it will be for you in the village.”

“You speak as if the village's opinion matters.”

“Doesn’t it?”

“I don’t see why it would. I’m not staying.”

Again, Kakashi watches them go back and forth. He can’t be sure what their relationship is, but he has a few hypotheses. None of them quite fits, but the longer Hiruzen and Iruka talk, the more of an idea he gets.

“Years ago, you left a note that said we shouldn’t expect you to return, yet here you are. Are you saying I’m going to lose you again?” Hiruzen asks. “Do you really think Konoha will happily lose one of our own twice?”

Iruka shakes his head. “I haven’t belonged to Konoha since the Nine Tails’ rampage, Hokage-sama. You and I both know that.”

“Because you refused to let us be your family, Iruka. The Will of Fire-”

“And I politely continue to refuse it.” For all his anger moments earlier, Iruka deflates. His eyes lose a spark Kakashi hadn’t realized was there until it disappeared. “I’m sorry, but Konoha isn’t my home. There’s no Will of Fire in my chest; it does no one any good to pretend otherwise.”

“That isn’t quite true, though, is it?” Hiruzen presses.

Iruka shrugs. “Konoha is my parents’ home. It was my first home as well. I’ll always love it for that.” The defiant spark returns to his eyes. “If you keep me here against my will, that will change. You know that.”

“You’re as stubborn as you were when you were a boy,” Hiruzen sighs. He shakes his head, but he’s begun to smile.

“Really? I was certain I’d gotten worse.”

“I was being diplomatic. One of us ought to try.”

That gets a bark of a laugh from Iruka. “I suppose that’s true.” His mouth quirks into a smile, but it isn’t happy. “You were kind to me, Hokage-sama. I don’t want you to think I’m ungrateful. I don’t want you to think it was easy for me to leave.”

 _He’s a bit mercurial, isn’t he?_ Kakashi thinks. _I’ve never met someone who can be happy one moment, miserable the next, then angry the one after that. Hiruzen must know him well; he seems to know which way Iruka’s mood will go before it does._

“No one thinks you’re ungrateful, Iruka. Just impulsive. We thought you would come back in a week, a month at most. We looked for you when you didn’t, and when we couldn’t find you, well…”

Kakashi expects Iruka to become angry, but he only shakes his head.

“I was never going to become a jounin like my parents, but I learned enough to survive.”

Hiruzen nods, accepting the explanation. “You’ll at least take some supplies before you leave again. You say you don’t have the Will of Fire, but we have it. We’re still your family, even if you aren’t ready to come back to us.”

Iruka inclines his head. “Thank you, Hokage-sama.”

“Stop and see the shinobi by the gate. Kotetsu has a bag prepared.”

Iruka shakes his head. “Thank you, Hokage-sama.” As he gets up, he glances at Kakashi. “I’m glad to see you’ve recovered well, Kakashi-san. Try not to fight any more spirits.”

“Ah, yeah. Thanks again, Iruka-san.”

With a dip of his head at Kakashi, Iruka turns and heads out the door.

Hiruzen waits until it shuts to sigh and motion for Kakashi to take a seat in the chair Iruka just left.

“So,” he says slowly, “you’ve met Iruka.”

“He seems interesting.”

“That’s one way to describe him.” Hiruzen takes a long drag on his pipe. “As you probably guessed, both of his parents died in the Nine Tails' attack. I thought that speaking to him about the Will of Fire had convinced him that Konoha was his family; he stopped acting out so much and seemed ready to follow in his parents’ footsteps. Obviously, I was wrong.”

“Is he a missing-nin?” Kakashi asks.

“No- he left Konoha the day before he was supposed to graduate. He’s just a runaway child who grew up on his own.”

Kakashi nods. “I’ve known priests who could purify spirits, but I’ve never seen one do it the way he did.” At Hiruzen’s encouraging nod, Kakashi explains, “He hugged her, and she turned back into a woman. He says he isn’t a priest, though.”

“That does match the boy I knew," Hiruzen says thoughtfully. "Iruka has a good heart. If he hadn’t rejected the Will of Fire, he would have brought peace to many of Konoha’s restless members. Speaking of, I have a new assignment for you.”

“I’ll do whatever you need, Hokage-sama.”

Hiruzen smiles benignly are him. “Good! Uzumaki Naruto- Minato’s son, yes. The boy just barely managed to graduate from the Academy. He, Uchiha Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura will be a team, and you, Kakashi, will be their leader.”

Kakashi’s heart sinks.

“Come with me,” Hiruzen orders. “You’ll need to see how they live to understand them.”

* * *

Team 7 is… volatile.

Sasuke is cold and withdrawn. Sakura is alternately dependable and erratic. And Naruto…

Kakashi Has tried to find some trace of his teacher in the boy, but Naruto brings nothing but chaos. He’s erratic and self-absorbed. He’s desperate for approval but refuses to behave in a way that would earn it. He's loud and angry at the world, and the ominous glow of the Nine Tails' chakra when he gets angry makes Kakashi's skin crawl. 

Naruto and Sasuke butt heads more often than not. 

Kakashi isn’t sure how they managed to pass the bell test, and the longer he works with them, the more certain he becomes that Hiruzen made a mistake.

* * *

Nominating Team 7 for the chūnin exams was, in hindsight, a bad idea. Kakashi had thought that the extended pressures and forced inter-reliance would drive his students to learn how to work with each other.

To a degree, he was right.

He can’t be blamed for not knowing about Orochimaru, but he blames himself anyway.

* * *

He should have given them another year.

Every fight drives that point home; Team 7 needed another year.

* * *

Orochimaru’s second appearance is nearly the death of the Third.

By some miracle, Hiruzen survives.

Naruto survives the confrontation with the Sand’s Tailed Beast, but he nearly dies in the process. When he wakes up, somehow alive and impossibly well, Naruto refuses to look at any of them. He shakes off Kakashi’s hand and ignores both of his teammates in favor of searching out the Third’s hospital room and staring at the door.

Kakashi doesn’t blame him or the ANBU who try to make him leave. Unfortunately, neither is Tenzou, or Kakashi would have an easier time conveying that they should make an exception.

“He’s harmless,” Kakashi lies when one of them reaches for Naruto, clearly intending to move him by force. The Nine Tails' chakra is already leaking out; Naruto’s fingernails have lengthened into claws and his eyeteeth have grown sharp. “He wouldn’t hurt the hokage, but I’ll wait with him just in case.”

Reluctantly, the ANBU let Naruto stay, so Kakashi makes himself at home next to his student.

Naruto doesn’t thank him, and the Nine Tails' chakra doesn’t retreat. It does calm after a while, though, and when a medical-nin tells them the Third will need time to recover but confirms that he won’t die, Naruto’s sigh of relief becomes a sob.

In another life, Kakashi would hug him close, but in this one, the most Naruto will accept from him is a quiet, “You see? We’re going to be okay.”

* * *

Hiruzen slowly recovers enough to take visitors. He calls Kakashi to his side one afternoon, and Kakashi gladly leaves his team with a series of menial but time-consuming missions. There’s going to be a fight between Naruto and Sasuke soon; Kakashi can feel it.

The villagers haven’t forgotten what Naruto did to fend off the other Tailed Beast. They don’t trust him, and they don’t like him.

Nothing Kakashi says seems to reach the boy, and the fear of failing his beloved teacher's son keeps Kakashi awake at night.

“Something has to be done about Naruto,” Hiruzen says as Kakashi enters the room. He’s back in the tower, which should be comforting, but the sight of him so drawn and old only makes Kakashi worry more.

Kakashi bows his head. “I’m sorry. I’m trying everything I can think of, but nothing seems to reach him.”

“I was afraid of this. He isn’t a bad child. I can feel it. I fear that in trying to let the village adjust to him, we let him be isolated for too long, and I’m not sure how to bring him back.”

“You could try treating him like a child instead of a time bomb.”

Kakashi and Hiruzen snap around to face the window.

Sitting on the sill, legs hanging over, is Iruka.

“ANBU aren’t trained to deal with someone like me,” he explains before they can ask. “Don’t worry; they’re fine.”

“You came back?” Hiruzen asks. “And what do you know about Uzumaki Naruto?”

Iruka looks at Hiruzen levelly. “There’s going to be a war. War breeds restless spirits. It’s better to guide them into the next world before they become violent.”

“That doesn’t explain what you know about that boy.”

“Nothing, really. I was like him once, I suppose. Having the power of the Nine Tails will make his explosion more impressive, though. I'd like to talk with him."

“Iruka-”

“Relax. I’m not going to hurt him or take him out of the village. Konoha’s jinchuuriki is perfectly safe.”

There’s a stubborn set to his mouth that suggests Iruka is settling in for a long argument.

Hiruzen sighs. “Do what you can.”

Iruka’s brows shoot up, but he only says, “I will.” He gets to his feet, only to pause before he leaves. “Hokage-sama?”

“Yes, Iruka?”

“I’m glad you didn’t die. I’m not ready to see your spirit yet.”

Within a breath, he disappears.

Hiruzen stares out the window after him. “This is a complication we don’t need.”

“Hokage-sama?” Kakashi asks. “Should I-”

“No, trying to force Iruka to leave would only increase the damage.” Gaze sharpening, Hiruzen looks Kakashi over. “However, it can’t hurt to keep an eye on him. Follow him and see what he does. He isn't interested in Naruto without cause.”

Kakashi nods and, unlike Iruka, uses the stairs to exit the tower.

* * *

It takes Iruka all of half an hour to stumble across Naruto.

“Oh,” he says. “You’re the boy with the Nine Tails.”

Naruto’s face twitches. “What was that?” As it always does, the Nine Tails' furious red chakra begins to gather around him as Naruto’s voice rises. “You got a problem with me? If you’ve got a problem, just say it!”

Iruka looks Naruto in the eye. “Aren’t you tired, Naruto-kun? It must be hard, carrying everyone’s unhappiness.”

The unsettling chakra stops flowing.

“I- What?” Naruto asks. His face furrows, and his eyes return to their natural color.

“Everybody says you’re the monster they see in their nightmares, don’t they?” Iruka asks, voice softening. “It must hurt. And I bet you don’t have anyone who fights for you or holds your hand when you’re sad. You must be lonely.”

Naruto shakes his head, but the Nine Tails' chakra is still dissipating. The anger is draining from his face, too; without it, he just looks small and sad. “I’m fine.”

“No, you aren’t. But who is?” Iruka stretches; Kakashi hears each pop of his vertebrae. “Do you like ramen?”

“Huh?”

“Do you like ramen? I bet Ichiraku still makes the best. I haven’t had any in years, and I've missed it.” He offers Naruto a smile. “If you want some, I’ll pay for both of us. Eating by myself gets really lonely.”

Naruto looks up at Iruka with the expression Kakashi has been trying to get him to show for months. All the anger and posturing have been stripped away, and Naruto is just a boy looking at someone who likes him. He’s a frightened, unhappy boy who’s vulnerable to hatred he doesn’t understand.

With a few sentences and an offer to share a meal, Iruka neatly smashed through every barrier Kakashi had thought was impossible to break.

“Why would you do that?” Naruto asks. “I’m a monster, aren't I? You called me the Nine Tails...”

Iruka shakes his head. “No, I said you're the boy _with_ the Nine Tails. I know monsters, and you, Uzumaki Naruto-kun, aren’t nearly scary enough to be one. Sorry to disappoint you, but you're just a boy." His voice is warm as continues, "So, what do you say? Do you like ramen?”

Naruto sniffles. He wipes at his eyes quickly, not acknowledging the tears he, Iruka, and Kakashi all know are spilling out.

“Yeah,” he whispers. “I like ramen.”

“In that case, let’s go eat. Come on.”

Iruka starts to walk away, and Naruto runs to catch up.

“Hey, hey. You know my name, but you never told me yours,” he protests.

Iruka smiles down at Naruto, warm and real, and Naruto’s eyes catch the light as they fill with tears once more.

“My name is Umino Iruka. Nice to meet you.”

“Umino Iruka-san…” Naruto repeats softly. “Are you from Konoha, Iruka-san? You said you haven’t had Ichiraku for a while, so maybe you came by once before?”

“I was born here, but I moved away when I was younger," Iruka says, neatly repackaging the truth. "Have you ever left Konoha?”

“A couple times. For missions.”

“That’s good! I bet you have some good stories from your missions, don’t you?”

“I do!”

”Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s hear one! I haven't spoken to a real ninja in a long time. What sorts of things do you do?"

Kakashi follows them at a distance as they walk away, Iruka’s simple kimono overshadowed by Naruto’s orange jumpsuit. Naruto dances around him, clearly embellishing his first story for his willingly captive audience. Iruka tilts his head back and laughs, and even from Kakashi’s distance, he can see the change as Naruto decides that Iruka is someone important.

* * *

Kakashi watches from behind as Iruka and Naruto settle into the seats at Ichiraku.

Naruto asks Iruka about the Nine Tails the moment their food is served, and Iruka answers him honestly.

“So it’s true,” Naruto says softly. “Mizuki-sensei wasn’t lying when he said the thing inside me really did all the awful things everyone says.”

Iruka hums to himself. “Mizuki-sensei… I wonder…”

“What?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. That man told you everyone hates you, didn’t he?”

”Well, yeah. It’s not like he was wrong.”

“Everyone doesn't hate you, Naruto.”

“You can’t know that,” Naruto scoffs. He can't stop himself from adding, “...Can you?”

Iruka nudges him with an elbow. “I’m from Konoha, Naruto. My parents were shinobi, and they died trying to protect the village from the Nine Tails.”

Naruto slumps forward, but Iruka lays a hand on his shoulder.

”So even you hate me.”

_”Even you”? He’s already this attached to Iruka?_

“Did I say I hate you? No, I didn’t. I’m telling you about them so you understand that no one would judge me for hating you, but I don’t, and I don't want to. Anyone who says you’re hated by everyone is either not paying attention or a liar. You're included in that.”

“One person doesn’t hate me. That’s great…” Naruto huffs, but he sounds hopeful.

Iruka nudges him again. “Eat your food.” Naruto must not obey, because Iruka nudges him one more time. “You have to start somewhere, you know. Besides, I’m not the only one who doesn’t hate you.”

“Who else?”

“Teuchi-san and Ayame-san don’t. Right?”

Teuchi and Ayame agree eagerly. The two of them have been subtly looking after Naruto for years. From the way Naruto lives, their care is probably a large reason that he’s made it so long.

“The hokage doesn’t hate you,” Iruka continues. “It sounds like your teammates don’t hate you. Your teacher doesn’t hate you either. How many is that? Seven people? That’s seven more than you thought.”

Naruto snorts. “Kakashi-sensei doesn’t like me, though. What kind of teacher doesn’t like his student?”

Kakashi winces.

Iruka hums thoughtfully. “A nervous one, if I'm any judge. Don’t look at me like that; I'm not saying he's perfect. He’s probably never taught anyone before. I bet you guys are his first team and somebody thought he’d be good at looking after you. You’re very important, Naruto. He’s got your future in his hands. That’s pretty scary.”

“I guess…”

“You guess? Well I guess he likes you, Naruto-kun. You’re just so used to people pushing you away, you can’t recognize it when someone doesn’t.”

Naruto shrugs. “And if he really doesn’t?”

“Then he really is a bad teacher, and he’s an awful person, too. Who wouldn’t like a student as cute as you, huh?”

Naruto makes a noise of mild pain, followed by struggling.

“Don’t pinch my cheeks,” he grumbles.

Iruka laughs and pats him on the back. “Sorry, sorry. You just looked so unhappy, I thought it would make you smile.”

“You’re a weird guy, you know that?”

Iruka laughs again, but it’s quieter this time. “I guess I am. But you understand that you aren’t alone now, don’t you?”

Naruto mumbles something under his breath.

“What was that?” Iruka asks too-innocently.

“I said I get it!” Naruto yells.

“Good! Now finish your dinner. There’s work that needs to be done tomorrow, and you’ll need to be at your best to show your teacher what his star pupil can do.”

Naruto does as he’s bid, and a little while later, Iruka shoos him away. He doesn’t manage to get away without a crushing hug first, but from the look on his face, he doesn’t mind it.

“Are you done hiding, Kakashi-san,” Iruka asks as he, too, leaves, “or am I meant to keep pretending I don’t know you’re here?”

Kakashi steps into the light. “How long have you known?”

“Since you started following me after I left the tower.” Iruka gives him a lopsided smile. “Don’t worry; you aren’t losing your edge. There isn’t much you can do to hide from me.”

“You can see something other than chakra?” Kakashi asks, falling into step as Iruka walks away from Ichiraku.

“It’s… complicated.”

Kakashi raises his brows. "I can handle complicated."

"No offense, Kakashi-san, but this is different from your kind of complicated."

Iruka shrugs, and Kakashi is reminded of the reason he's here.

“What do you see when you look at Naruto?”

Iruka fixes him with a long, thoughtful look. “I see a child. He’s a little fragile, but if you take care of him, he’ll grow up well.”

“You can see that in his soul? Like you saw Ayame's?"

“No, I can see it from having a meal with him and encouraging him to talk. He just needs someone to see him as his own person, Kakashi-san. He isn't a monster. Don’t hurt him.”

The warning catches Kakashi so off-guard, Iruka slips away before he can answer it.

* * *

Team 7 looks up at Kakashi with hope in their eyes.

Naruto in particular looks eager; Kakashi barely recognizes the withdrawn student he’d been trying to understand in this new, energetic boy.

He doesn’t have to try for long. Iruka appears as Kakashi is beginning to explain what the team is going to be doing.

“Good morning, Kakashi-san,” he says brightly. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to borrow Naruto for a while. The hokage said it would be fine if you say okay.”

Naruto looks at Kakashi eagerly.

“Good morning, Iruka-san,” Kakashi says, caught off-guard again. “Do you need him for the official business that brought you here?”

“I do.”

Kakshi pretends not to see Naruto punch the air victoriously as he says, “Then by all means, borrow him.”

“Thank you, Kakashi-san. Come on, Naruto.”

Naruto runs over to Iruka, who immediately scolds him for the overenthusiastic hug Naruto gives him. Naruto laughs like it’s nothing, but he looks up at Iruka with hope in his wide eyes.

Kakashi turns back to his remaining students as Naruto and Iruka walk away. “Well, we don’t need Naruto for this, luckily. Today, you’re going to build up your stamina by using your chakra to walk up the remaining sections of the wall while carrying broken parts of it.”

“While you read?” Sakura asks.

“Not this time. Rebuilding Konoha comes first.”

For the first time, his students look at him with pride.

It would feel more significant if it weren't so embarrassing.

* * *

Iruka returns with Naruto as evening is turning into night.

“I’ve done all I could for the time being,” he explains. There are dark circles under his eyes. “Naruto was a great helper. Thank you for letting me borrow him.”

Naruto himself looks a bit shell-shocked. He manages to nod at Kakashi, but his eyes return to Iruka.

“Why don’t you go catch up with your teammates?” Kakashi suggests. “Iruka-san and I need to catch up on some things.”

Shaking off his stupor, Naruto nods excitedly. “Thank you, Iruka-sensei!”

Iruka smiles at him. “It was my pleasure.”

Naruto runs off toward Sakura and Sasuke, his unmistakable voice calling their names.

Iruka chuckles, but when Kakashi looks him over, he’s standing awkwardly.

“Did they fight back?”

“Hmm? Oh, the spirits. No, all the ones we came across were just confused. I’ll go out again in a few hours and look for stragglers. The night seems to draw them out.”

“There are that many?”

Iruka shrugs. “I’ve seen more, but to be honest, any is too many.”

His eyes are almost dead. In the growing darkness that throws his features into sharper relief, Kakashi barely recognizes him.

“I’m fine.”

Belatedly, Kakashi realizes he’s been staring. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I had company this time. That helped.”

“Really?” Kakashi asks dubiously.

“Really. He’s very lively,” Iruka explains. He looks wistful. “Resilient, too. It’s a shame.”

Kakashi tenses, but Iruka shakes his head.

“That was poorly phrased. It’s a shame for a child to have to be resilient. He’s had to fend for himself all his life, hasn’t he?”

“You’re more sympathetic to him than I would have expected.”

“If I’d stayed in the village, I probably wouldn’t be,” Iruka admits. “As it is, I’ve encountered too many shunned souls to see him as anything but another orphan. It’s good that you’re looking after him.”

“You barely know me.”

_You threatened me last night._

“I’ll tell you a secret, Kakashi-san. Spirits like to touch the people they knew before they leave. That touch leaves a trace, and if you know what to look for, you can see it.” He smiles, and even if it’s weak, it makes Kakashi feel warm. “You’ve been loved by a lot of people. It’s little comfort, I know, but you were well-loved by the people you’ve lost.”

_This is too much._

“I overstepped, didn’t I?” Iruka scratches at his jaw and gives Kakashi an apologetic look. “Sorry. I don’t spend much time with people anymore. Not living ones, anyway. My manners are a little rusty.”

“No, it’s… It’s fine.”

“It isn’t, but I appreciate the lie.” He looks over at the team and says, “I’m going to overstep again. Keep a close eye on that other boy, Kakashi-san.”

“Sasuke? Why?”

“Spirits are drawn to misery, and that one is a beacon. Whatever he’s thinking, it isn’t good.”

* * *

It’s only by chance that Kakashi is passing the gate the next morning when Iruka is telling Hiruzen goodbye.

“What will you do next?” Hiruzen asks.

Iruka sighs. “Someone should be there to comfort the dead. Who better than me?”

“You aren’t going to tell me not to let Konoha go to war with Orochimaru?”

“I know a lost cause when I see it. You won’t stop, and Orochimaru is going to kill people regardless. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be able to stop him.”

“Maybe we will,” Hiruzen agrees. “I wish you’d stay longer, but I know you won’t. Be careful if you can, Iruka. Losing you wouldn’t benefit anyone.”

“It would make finding my parents easier, though,” Iruka jokes.

Hiruzen frowns, and Iruka mutters something to himself too low for Kakashi to catch.

“I’ll be careful, Hokage-sama,” he says a moment later.

“Good. Now go. Do what you must.”

“I will.”

Kakashi catches Iruka’s eye as he walks away. 

“Oh, Kakashi-san, I’m glad I ran into you. I hate to impose, but I haven’t seen Naruto yet. I need to leave, and I hoped you could tell Naruto goodbye for me.”

“Sure,” Kakashi agrees. “I’ll see him in a few hours.”

“Thank you.”

Iruka doesn’t linger; Kakashi watches him stride through the gate like it’s going to close on him.

“He’s really leaving already?” Kakashi asks, turning to Hiruzen in confusion. “He looks dead on his feet.”

“That’s the motivation of a devoted son.” Hiruzen shakes his head. “He left the village because he was convinced their spirits weren’t resting peacefully.”

“His parents were restless spirits?” Kakashi asks. It hadn’t occurred to him that Iruka might have had to do to his own parents what he does for other spirits.

“I doubt it. If they truly weren’t able to leave, he would have come across them now.”

Hiruzen sighs heavily, and Kakashi is again reminded of the man’s advancing age.

“Do you think he’ll ever really come back?”

“I’m not sure. Living the way he is now, Iruka himself is a restless spirit. I don’t know if anyone can bring him peace.”

* * *

Kakashi delivers Iruka’s message, and Naruto sulks for a few hours.

He comes back to himself quickly, full of vigor and ready to fight Sasuke at a moment’s notice.

Some of the edge is gone, though. The undercurrent of resentment that had been building is gone; in its place is a simpler, less destructive rivalry.

“Hey, Sensei,” he says during lunch. “Everybody likes the hokage, right?”

“Sure.”

_The longer he lives without thinking about the complexities of the world, the better…_

Naruto nods. “Then I’m going to be the next one.”

Kakashi looks down at him, momentarily taken aback by his restless student’s unusual seriousness. “What made you decide that?”

“Before he left, Iruka-sensei told me that if I work hard and become strong, I can protect the village, and if I do that, people will see that I’m a good shinobi. The hokage’s the strongest shinobi, right? And people like him. So I’m going to become hokage. Then they’ll have to acknowledge me!”

_He really listened, didn’t he? I’ve never seen him so focused. Maybe that’s all he needed? All that troublemaking and quarrelling… He just had to be told he could be happy?_

“And maybe,” Naruto says, “if I get strong enough… Sakura-chan will date me?”

_Or not._

“I won’t!” Sakura snaps.

“Why are you so mad? I’m a catch, you know! You should be honored!”

Sasuke rolls his eyes. “This is so embarrassing.”

Naruto turns to him and starts shouting even louder, which only makes Sasuke dig in his heels and Sakura complain, and Kakashi knows the beginning of an extended argument when he sees one.

“Hey, hey. Why are you guys fighting? Weren’t you each other’s first kiss?”

Three irate children turn to him, all complaining at once, and Kakashi smiles behind his mask, warmed by the sight of his students heckling him together. This must be how Minato felt with Kakashi, Rin, and Obito.

_I thought I’d never want students of my own, but you know, Sensei… I think I just had to wait for the right group. These guys are chaotic and they fight with each other more often than they fight actual enemies, but I like them._

“What was that!” Naruto screeches, his wrath shifting from Kakashi to Sasuke.

Sasuke squints at him. “I said you’re a pain and Kakashi-sensei should just train me.”

“What about Sakura-chan!”

“He can train her, too, I guess. She’s smart.”

“Hey! I’m smart, too!”

The arguing devolves into wilder and wilder accusations, but Kakashi can see Sasuke’s mouth twitching toward a smile the longer Naruto insists that when he becomes hokage, he’ll personally kick Sasuke’s ass.

_Your son is a real character, Sensei, but I think that might be a good thing._

* * *

The decision to make Tsunade, the First Hokage’s granddaughter, Hiruzen’s successor is made quickly. They send Jiraiya, along with Naruto, to get her.

Kakashi trains his remaining team members, but he doesn’t know what to do with Sakura. She isn’t suited to the kinds of techniques Kakashi knows.

She would make a skilled assassin, he supposes, but she doesn’t have much thirst for blood.

The three of them are coming back from a C-rank mission, and Kakashi watches her watch a flock of birds above them. She doesn’t falter as she springs from branch to branch, unaware that she’s using a little extra chakra in her feet to steady herself.

 _Maybe a kunoichi would have a better idea,_ Kakashi muses. _Kurenai has her hands full with her team, but maybe Sakura and Hinata could practice together? Or Kurenai might know someone better…_

Slightly ahead, Sasuke isn’t paying attention to Kakashi or Sakura. He’s been growing more and more withdrawn after Orochimaru’s invasion, and Kakashi can’t help but worry about the mark on his student’s neck.

Compared to the other two, Sasuke isn’t as lovable, but Kakashi knows a front when he sees one. Sasuke is telling himself he doesn’t want friendships, only blood.

_How do I convince Sasuke that his team will help him, not hold him back? I learned to value my friends too late…_

Shaking his head, Kakashi doesn’t ask his memory of his teacher how Minato survived the deaths of two of his students.

* * *

Kurenai obliges Kakashi’s request to let Sakura spar with Hinata and assess her, but she shrugs when Kakashi asks what she thinks.

“She’s strong enough to be good at genjutsu, but…”

“But?”

“But I don’t think she has the right kind of imagination. Or, honestly, the inclination. She likes using her chakra in more concentrated ways; it comes more naturally to her.” She sighs. “If you could find someone who fights like she does, she could become a real powerhouse. Unfortunately, other than the Hyuuga, I can’t think of anyone in the village who fights that way, and their style is based on their Byakugan.”

“Which Sakura lacks.”

“Exactly. You could try Guy. A taijutsu specialist might know how to make use of her control.”

He’d thought of that at one point during Sakura and Hinata’s fight.

“He isn’t ready, though, is he?” Kurenai asks. She’s the only jounin who’s as open about how heavily she invests herself in her genin as much as Guy; there’s no censure in her voice as she says, “He’s still training Neji and Tenten, but he’s mourning with Lee. He’d take Sakura if you asked, but…”

“But it would hurt him,” Kakashi finishes. He’d never say it aloud, but it’s unsettling to see his oldest friend so quiet. “Well, it’s probably for the best. He’d try to put Sakura in one of those hideous jumpsuits, and she’d never trust his advice after that.”

Kurenai takes the offered levity, and the two of them laugh at the idea of Guy trying to create a miniature version of himself with Sakura.

If it isn’t as heartfelt as it could be, they’re both jounin. They know what loss is like.

With nothing else to say, Kakashi thanks her for her help and accepts her offer to let Hinata and Sakura continue sparring while he figures out what to do with Sakura.

He hadn’t thought Kurenai would have an answer, but he’d hoped she would.

* * *

Sasuke is progressing quickly, and Kakashi is still struggling to find a teacher for Sakura when Naruto returns.

He doesn’t come alone. Jiraiya, a visibly reluctant Tsunade, Tsunade’s harassed assistant, and a tiny pig arrive behind him.

Kakashi has never seen a shiteating grin as wide as the one on Naruto’s face when they gather in the hokage’s tower.

“I guess I can let this old lady to become hokage before me,” he tells them happily. “After all, she’ll probably be too old to do it soon-”

Tsunade’s eye twitches. “Naruto… Do you really want me to send you flying again?”

“You didn’t really do that the first time, and I can do the Rasengan now, so…”

Kakashi blinks in surprise.

_He figured it out already?_

Jiraiya intercepts Tsunade’s fist before it connects with Naruto’s head. “The mission was a success,” he says, ignoring Tsunade’s glare. “We’ve brought Tsunade back, and as you heard, she’s agreed to become hokage.”

Hiruzen sags in relief. “Welcome back. We received reports of evidence of shinobi clashing. I hoped that meant you’d decided to return.”

Tsunade gives him a long, hard look. “I’m sorry I couldn’t bring back Orochimaru’s head, Hokage-sama.”

“It’s enough for Konoha to have you back. And you brought Shizune with you. Welcome back, Shizun-san.”

The dark-haired woman behind Shizune bows. “Thank you, Hokage-sama.”

Smiling, Hiruzen looks over them all. “That means we only have one order of business left.”

“Teaching me how to do any of this?” Tsunade asks.

“Assigning tutors to Kakashi’s students,” Hiruzen corrects.

“What? He can’t teach his own kids?”

“You’ve met Naruto, who has the Nine Tails sealed inside him; one is the last Uchiha; and the third is a pushy kunoichi with a talent for chakra manipulation…” Tsunade narrows her eyes. Hiruzen ignores her. “Kakashi’s done what he could with them as a group and will remain their team leader. Outside of missions and team training, they’ll report for specialized training.”

Jiraiya shakes his head. “You’re a devious old man.”

“You think a village stays alive through friendliness?” Hiruzen shakes his head. “Jiraiya, you will continue with Naruto. Sakura will need a chakra specialist. Tsunade, Shizune-san, I’ll leave her in your hands.”

Tsunade glares at him. “Hiruzen!”

“You’ll do fine. And if you don’t, you can blame Kakashi.”

Everyone turns to look at Kakashi.

“Me?” Kakashi swallows.

“They’re still your students, Kakashi. That makes them your responsibility.”

“You’re right, of course. I understand, Hokage-sama.”

“Good! Then the only one who needs a tutor is Sasuke, and I can take him now that I’m no longer hokage.”

Naruto’s indignant shout makes Kakashi feel better about his own surprise.

* * *

Without his genin to keep track of, Kakashi rediscovers loneliness.

* * *

In the wake of the event that hits the world three months after his team is semi-reassigned, Kakashi finds himself wishing he were lonely.

* * *

“Kabuto,” Shizune says. She’s staring out the window of the house she, Kakashi, and Sakura took shelter in. Around them, the village is silent except periodic wails. It’s almost worse than the constant screaming. “He must have tried to unseal Orochimaru’s arms. There’s no way to know if it worked, but it doesn’t matter, does it? We’re being attacked regardless. What can we possibly do against enemies we can’t touch?”

Kakashi nods, unable to find anything useful from his experience, and behind them, kept there by Kakashi and Shizune’s firm hold, Sakura asks, “What’s happening, Sensei?”

She could mean Shizune. She could mean Kakashi. It doesn’t matter.

“The dead have come back,” Shizune says.

“No,” Kakashi corrects. “The dead are still dead. Human bodies can be killed or reanimated and sealed. But these are spirits. A priest might be able to help us, but we don’t have any.”

“Kakashi-san, there are more than a hundred spirits out there,” Shizune points out. “Even if Konoha is the only place where they’ve been revived…”

“It would take an army to subdue them,” Kakashi finishes.

Outside, an inhuman wail cracks the silence, and despite the warmth of the afternoon, Kakashi shivers.

* * *

A spirit is scratching at the door. It’s been doing that for what feels like hours, pushing and scraping. It can’t seem to figure out how to move through the simple barrier, but Kakashi almost wishes it would.

The endless fear is wearing on him.

A wail reaches through the door; another answers it from somewhere near the window where Shizune is hiding.

Sakura has stopped trying to fight them, but Kakashi gets the feeling she’s only saving up her strength.

The door groans one last time, then splinters.

A horrible, contorted face comes through the door.

 _Time dulled how terrible you look, didn’t it?_ Kakashi thinks mildly. He hasn’t slept in so long, he isn’t sure he ever has.

Sakura gasps.

Shizune moves closer to Kakashi, her hand reaching for the useless weapon in her sleeve.

The spirit steps toward them, and a firm voice says, “Begone.”

There’s a sound like rain, and the spirit disappears with a cry.

Into its place steps a man Kakashi doesn’t recognize. He’s dressed like a priest, and when he sees them, he smiles.

“Sorry for the wait! You can come with me now.”

“Wh- Who are you?” Shizune asks.

“My name is Yuuto.”

Through the window comes the sound of rain again, and a woman’s voice says, “Begone.”

“We were brought here to help with the spirits,” Yuuto explains. “If you’ll come with me, the village’s evacuation area has been purified. The spirits can’t cross over the threshold, so we’re bringing everyone there.”

He waves for them to follow him, and with a quick glance at each other, Kakashi, Shizune, and Sakura do as he bids.

The destruction of Konoha doesn’t look that terrible. Compared to Orochimaru’s invasion, the village hardly seems to have been touched.

Someone must be moving the bodies.

A woman in a priestess’ robes nods at them as they pass her.

“How did you know to come?” Shizune asks. “You said you were brought here.”

“A friend brought us. He told us what was happening, and when he described the extent of the carnage, we knew we had to come.”

“How many of you are there?” Kakashi asks.

“Seven.”

“That’s all?” Sakura asks. “There were spirits everywhere the last few days.”

“They aren’t all violent,” Yuuto explains. “We purified all the ones we could find who were, and after that, we moved onto the rest. You’re actually some of the last people we found.”

Kakashi already knows the answer, but he asks anyway. “This friend who got you- what was his name?”

Yuuto smiles. “Umino Iruka. He’s from here, isn’t he?”

“Iruka-san?” Sakura asks. “Naruto’s friend?”

“Who is he?” Shizune asks.

“He’s not a priest,” Kakashi tells her. “Like Yuuto said, he’s originally from Konoha. I ran into him on a mission a while back. He helped us after Orochimaru attacked us.”

“That sounds like Iruka.” Yuuto shakes his head, but he’s smiling. “He’s a bit strange. He doesn’t purify things or places but people. And he does prefer to look after the dead.”

Sakura and Shizune press Yuuto for more answers. Kakashi has his own, but they have to wait.

* * *

When they reach the evacuation area, Sakura and Shizune are quickly found by Tsunade. She scolds them and hugs them and doesn’t let go when they try to squirm away.

Kakashi leaves them to it. Iruka won’t be here; he’ll be out where the spirits are. Until he gets back, there’s nothing for Kakashi to do but wait.

He’s considering where best to wait when there’s a flash of orange and someone plows into him. A familiar voice shouts his name, and Kakashi lets himself be reassured that Naruto is a constant.

Kakashi rests a hand on the top of Naruto’s head while Naruto squeezes him hard enough to hurt.

“So, you made it out, huh?” Kakashi asks.

Naruto nods. Stepping back, he wipes at his face. “Iruka-sensei found us and brought us here. He got the Third and Sasuke, too. And the other priests have been bringing people, too, you know? But nobody could find you and Sakura and Shizune-san…”

“We’re good shinobi,” Kakashi reassures him. “We were very well hidden.”

Naruto nods and smiles up at Kakashi. “I’m glad you’re safe, Sensei. I gotta go check on Sakura-chan, though…”

 _Some things don’t change,_ Kakashi thinks, amused despite himself.

“Oh!” Naruto points at Kakashi. “The old man wanted me to tell you to come find him if I found you. He’s probably around here somewhere.”

He runs off with those vague instructions, and Kakashi sets off with a shake of his head. Presumably, the “old man” is the Third. Hiruzen shouldn’t be too difficult to locate. His chakra signature is hard to miss.

As expected, it only takes Kakashi a few minutes to locate and join him.

“Naruto said you’re looking for me, Hokage-sama?”

Unlike everyone else, Hiruzen looks more worried than ever.

“It’s about Sasuke,” Hiruzen says lowly. “Some of the spirits spoke to him. He won’t tell me what they said, and now he won’t say anything.”

Kakashi nods. “I’ll talk to him. Is he around here?”

Hiruzen jerks his head to the side, and there, in the far corner, is Sasuke. He’s sitting with his knees drawn up and his arms wrapped around his thighs, his chin resting on his knees.

“Good luck.”

“Thank you, Hokage-sama.”

Sasuke isn’t as blunt as Naruto, but that’s due to being more strategic than impulsive. After a moment, Kakashi decides it would be better to mimic that.

“The Third says you met some spirits,” he tells Sasuke as he joins him in the corner. After squatting for hours, it feels good to sit down and stretch his legs. “Any chance you want to tell me what they said?”

“No.”

_I deserve that._

“Let me rephrase, then. I’m worried about you, and I think you should tell me what they said so I can help you.”

Sasuke holds himself tighter. “You can’t help with this.”

“If you say so.”

Kakashi shifts and pulls out the book he stashed in his kunai bag.

He’s made it through half a page before Sasuke asks, “Really? You’re going to read that here? Now?”

“What else can I do? I can’t fight spirits, and I can’t help my student. I may as well enjoy some literature.”

“That’s overly generous.”

“What can I say? I’m a generous person.”

Sasuke snorts, and Kakashi pretends to read while Sasuke debates what to do next.

Coming to a conclusion, Sasuke says, “The spirits that came to me… They were members of my family.”

Kakashi closes his book but doesn’t look over. “I see.”

“There was a plan to try to overtake Konoha.”

“Ah.”

Sasuke’s fingers shake where they’re digging into his forearms. “Itachi killed them because he was loyal to Konoha. He didn’t- They didn’t know why he spared me…”

“So you know more of the why but not all of it,” Kakashi surmises.

Sasuke nods.

Kakashi considers the situation. “Do remember the bell test, Sasuke-kun?”

“The teamwork test? Yeah.”

“My teacher tested my team the same way. I was like you- better than my teammates, and I knew it. Obito and Rin couldn’t keep up with our teacher, but I could. I got a bell because I used them to get it.” Tipping his head back, Kakashi squints at the ceiling. “I progressed far faster than they did, and I thought, as many shinobi would, that they were holding me back.”

“Obito?” Sasuke asks. “Was he-”

“An Uchiha? He was. The great copy-nin got his edge from Uchiha Obito, a boy who was never going to be great. Or maybe he was. We’ll never know because I was a bad teammate.”

Sasuke’s curiosity is almost physical. “He died, but you only took one Sharingan?”

“I lost my own eye first,” Kakashi explains, “and Obito gave me one of his so I could protect our remaining teammate. That’s why my Sharingan drains me so much; it isn’t really mine.

“Had I been a better person who didn’t need to be shamed into doing what was right, I would have two eyes and two more living friends.” Sighing, Kakashi touches the edge of his headband. “I live with the reminder that I got my friends killed. I was stronger than they were, and instead of protecting them, I made them into sacrifices. Having an edge in fights is a benefit, but I can't use it without paying for it. When I'm not using it, I can only see out of one eye. Most of the time, I’m weaker because I have Obito’s Sharingan.”

“Why are you telling me this?" Sasuke mumbles. "You and your friend aren’t the same as my brother and me.”

“No, but you’re thinking about abandoning your friends to chase strength elsewhere. You know the pain of betrayal, Sasuke, and now you know the price of taking friendship for granted. If you hurt Naruto and Sakura, you’ll be worse than Itachi because you’ll choose it needlessly.”

Sasuke shifts. He doesn’t believe Kakashi yet. That much is obvious.

“Be better than your teacher, Sasuke. If not for the sake of your friends, then for your own sake.”

“Because I’m stronger with them,” Sasuke parrots. 

“That's true!” Kakashi praises, ignoring Sasuke’s dismissive shrug in favor of delivering the second half of his admonition. “Unfortunately, you’re still weaker than I am, and if you betray your friends, you won’t have to time to get strong enough to vengeance on Itachi. As your teacher, your failure will be mine, and I’ll kill you myself.”

Eyes wide, Sasuke stares up at him.

“Of course, if Naruto or Sakura hurt you, I’d have to go after them, but we both know they love you too much to do that.” Kakashi pats Sasuke’s shoulder. “Don’t do that to us, okay? I want to see you surpass me.”

Message delivered, Kakashi hauls himself up and goes off in search of Hiruzen.

He’s either made things better or dramatically worse, and he can only wait for Sasuke to show him which he did.

* * *

Hiruzen and Kakashi are standing together quietly, Sasuke’s revelation conveyed and everything that needed to be said already said, when Iruka appears.

He looks dramatically worse than he had the last time he was in Konoha, but when he speaks, his voice is steady.

“Konoha is safe once more.”

Everyone lets out a breath.

“We’re in the process of purifying the village. In the meantime, we’ve already established a barrier. The spirits outside can’t cross into Konoha so long as that remains the case. A priest will remain here to look after you and the perimeter.” He looks over his shoulder and gestures for someone to come forward.

The priest who freed them steps forward.

“Everyone, this is Yuuto. He volunteered to take care of the village.”

“Please don’t hesitate to come to me with any concerns,” Yuuto says. “I’m here to look after you in Iruka’s stead.”

“As for the dead,” Iruka continues, and Kakashi wonders if everyone can see the way he tenses when Yuuto says he’s a surrogate Iruka, “their bodies have been blessed and laid out as respectfully as possible. You’ll have to identify them, I’m afraid, but Yuuto will be there with you, as will the other priests and priestesses.”

That said, Iruka turns away and disappears.

Kakashi isn’t the only one who’s thrown by that. He hadn’t felt any use of chakra.

Yuuto takes Iruka’s place. “The sooner we lay the dead to rest as they deserve, the better, I’m afraid. If you could follow me…”

“Come with me, Kakashi,” Hiruzen says quietly. “I know where Iruka will be, and I’m going to need help with him.”

Wordlessly, Kakashi nods and follows Hiruzen out.

* * *

Iruka is lying on the roof of the hokage’s residence. He looks even worse than he had in the evacuation area, but other than the shine of tears down the side of his face, he seems unharmed.

Hiruzen sits down beside him. “When you came here, you said it hurts to purify spirits forcefully. You weren’t talking about them, were you?”

“Sure I was,” Iruka rasps. “I can mean more than one thing, Hokage-sama.”

“Stubborn boy. How bad is it?”

“Nothing I can't handle. Resting for a few days would be enough to recover fully. Unfortunately, there isn't that kind of time.”

“Iruka.”

“That monster woke up spirits across the world. I’ll rest tonight. After that, I have to go. Other priests are going to need to learn how to purify these spirits.” Iruka coughs wetly, and Kakashi winces. “I really… don’t miss the messes shinobi make.”

Hiruzen touches Iruka’s shoulder. “You’re shivering. One day won’t be enough-”

“If you really want to help me, lend me a shinobi,” Iruka interrupts. “Usually, I can handle spirits and the usual dangers of traveling, but this is going to exhaust me. A chūnin will suffice.”

Hiruzen frowns at him. “You saved the village, Iruka. You’ll take a jounin.”

“That’s excessive.”

“Sending a jounin will make Konoha look good to our neighbors when he helps you on your travels.”

Iruka coughs a laugh. “So that’s why you brought Kakashi-san along. Or am I mistaken?”

“In my intent to send Kakashi with you or in that being Kakashi?”

“Either. Both. Does it matter?”

“It doesn’t. You’re right that I brought Kakashi, and you’re right that he’s going to be the one I send with you. You already know each other, after all, and Konoha is unlikely to be attacked while the other villages are also under siege.”

“Fine. I’m going to sleep for twelve hours. After that, we can leave when you’re ready, Kakashi-san.”

“I’ll be ready then,” Kakashi replies automatically.

Iruka laughs, but he doesn’t explain what he finds funny. The sound peters out when Iruka falls asleep.

“Could you carry him, Kakashi?” Hiruzen asks. “I’ll show you where to take him.”

“Yes, Hokage-sama.”

Iruka isn’t heavy. Kakashi easily carries him from the roof to an abandoned apartment.

Hiruzen sighs. “He’s going to be angry when he wakes up. There’s no helping it, though. This is the best place for him.”

Laying Iruka down on the double bed, Kakashi throws a blanket over him just in case.

“You’re worrying already,” Hiruzen observes.

“I’m not,” Kakashi promises. “He seems like a handful, but he’s the same type as Naruto. More noise than actual danger.”

Hiruzen raises one brow. “I’m not worried about you handling Iruka. Your students will be fine in your absence. Just remember to say goodbye to them before you leave.”

“I will.”

* * *

Their farewells aren’t as overwrought as Kakashi had thought they would be.

Sakura hugs him first. “Be careful, Sensei.”

Naruto hugs him second and manages to headbutt Kakashi in the gut in the process. “Look after Iruka-sensei, okay?” he says. “And don’t get distracted by your weird books.”

Sasuke doesn’t hug him. He keeps his arms folded across his chest, and when it’s his turn, all he says is, “You won’t see me surpass you if you die.”

 _I got a good team,_ Kakashi thinks. _I’m doing my best with Sasuke, Obito. Hopefully I’m taking better care of him than I took care of you._

“Then I’ll be sure to come back,” he promises. “I expect you all to be stronger when I do!”

He means to bask in the glow of his students’ coming glory, but Iruka arrives. With a bag thrown over his shoulders that matches Kakashi’s, he looks ready to leave. 

“That was cruel,” he snaps at Hiruzen, who’s standing off to the side with Tsunade and Jiraiya. “Had I known I’d be punished for coming, I would have just sent Yuuto and the others.”

“It’s your family’s home, Iruka.”

“As I recall, I told you I didn’t want it.”

“You were a child.”

“But I’m not one anymore, am I?” Iruka visibly forces himself to stop shouting and compose himself. “Thank you for your hospitality. Please offer the space to Naruto. If the village has been not to charge me for it, he should inherit the same situation. Now, if everything else is taken care of, Kakashi-san and I will take out leave.”

From behind Kakashi, Naruto shouts, “Iruka-sensei! Are you really going to leave without saying goodbye again?”

As quickly as Iruka’s temper flared, it disappears. “Sorry about that, Naruto. It couldn’t be helped.” Stepping past Kakashi, he squats down in front of Naruto. “It was good to see you again, even for a little while. Unfortunately, I have to go again, and I’ll be borrowing your teacher.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that, Iruka-Sensei. You can keep him.”

“Naruto! Don’t just tell people they can keep me like I’m an animal!”

“Even though you act like one, reading those weird books all the time…?”

Kakashi’s face heats, but Iruka laughs.

“In that case, I’ll be keeping him for a while.” He looks over at Sakura and Sasuke. “Sorry to be a burden, but as his teammates, can you look after Naruto for me?”

Both genin nod, and everyone ignores Naruto’s protests that he’s right there.

“Thank you, Sakura-san, Sasuke-san. And you,” Iruka adds, tugging on Naruto’s cheek, “take care of them, too.”

“Of course,” Naruto grumbles. “I told you, didn’t I? Sasuke can’t take of himself.”

Kakashi shakes his head. _What on earth did those two do while they were on their own?_

“We’ll be going, then,” Iruka announces. He gets up with a wince but ignores Hiruzen’s frown and walks past Kakashi toward the gate.

“Later,” Kakashi tells the group before turning and jogging after Iruka.

He catches up just as Iruka reaches the gate.

“So, Iruka-san, where are we going?”

“To the southeast. There were already a lot of restless spirits there, but I was leaving it because the restlessness wasn’t tipping into violence. By now, though…” He shakes his head. “I know a few shrines with enough priests that they can send them out to spread the training faster than I can on my own.”

There’s more to it than that. Kakashi can feel that, but he lets Iruka keep his secrets.

* * *

When Iruka isn’t annoyed with him or in Konona, Kakashi discovers, he’s good company- and more open than Kakashi had anticipated.

“What did I talk to Naruto about last time I was in Konoha?” Iruka echoes. “Hmm. I asked what the coolest place he’d seen. His favorite animal. Worst vegetable. That sort of thing. Why?”

“Oh. He got very attached to you in a short period.”

Iruka chuckles. “He’s just one of those people, I think. Anyone could become his friend if they talked to him.”

There’s a reprimand in Iruka’s tone, but Kakashi can’t tell if it’s for him.

“Hey, Iruka-san?”

Iruka hums, not really listening.

“Have you ever read Icha Icha?”

Out of the corner of his eyes Kakashi watches Iruka stumble over a few branches.

“You’re familiar with the series, right?” he asks when Iruka has regained his composure. “It’s my favorite.”

“So that’s what Naruto’s been complaining about.” Iruka squints at him. “The Third sent you with me as a punishment, didn’t he?”

“Me?” Kakashi asks innocently. “A punishment? You wound me, Iruka-san.”

Iruka doesn’t answer, but there’s no edge to his laughter.

* * *

The first night they make camp, Kakashi stops them early. Iruka is flagging, and their pace is already slow.

“Yes, you go ahead and take the first watch, but don’t try to let me sleep,” Iruka tells him before Kakashi can say anything. “I’ll wake up in four hours regardless.”

“You think I’d do that?”

“Of course you would.” Iruka glares at the blanket he fished from his bag. “I didn’t have to ask Naruto many things because he had a lot to say on his own. He seems to think you’re something like a god. A weird one, but I can’t tell if that’s a bad thing in his eyes.”

“He’s surprisingly complex, isn’t he?” Kakashi asks as he settles by the fire.

Iruka hums to himself. “If you mistake volume for simplicity, I suppose so.”

* * *

Four hours pass without incident. Kakashi is considering not waking Iruka, but as promised, Iruka wakes up on his own.

His eyes fly open and he sits up quickly, but he doesn’t make a sound.

“Four hours,” he sighs a moment later. Rubbing at his eyes, he shifts so he’s sitting with his legs crossed.

“That was unusual,” Kakashi tells him. “Do you always wake up that way?”

“Unusual? Oh, the four-hours thing. I trained myself to do that when I was younger. I knew I was going to travel, and being on the road is dangerous, as you know. I’m a light sleeper, but it’s better if I wake up periodically.”

“That makes sense. I was referring to the way you sat up so fast, though.”

Iruka coughs and, to Kakashi’s surprise, blushes. “It was the only way I could get the habit to stick.”

It’s no wonder Naruto likes him. Iruka is a bit of an oddball himself.

“Well, I’ll leave the next watch to you,” Kakashi tells him. “Wake me in four hours.”

“Will do,” Iruka tells him softly.

* * *

After Iruka wakes Kakashi- by breaking a stick a few yards away, wisely not getting close- they eat a small breakfast and don’t speak until the afternoon.

Iruka breaks the companionable silence by holding up a hand. “Kakashi-san,” he says quietly, holding out his bag for Kakashi to take. “Please look after my things.”

A spirit stumbles into view a moment later. It looks horrified, as they all do, but it stumbles around, as if it doesn’t know what it’s doing.

Iruka walks over slowly. “Excuse me. Are you okay?”

The spirit moans and takes an unsteady step closer.

“You look lost,” Iruka continues. “Can I help you find your way?”

It goes against every instinct for Kakashi to stay still as the spirit rushes at Iruka. Even knowing he wouldn’t be helping- that he _can’t_ help- doesn’t make him feel better as he watches the spirit collide with Iruka.

As it does, its body blurs like Ayame’s had, and in its place stands a girl about Sakura’s age.

“You can see me?” she asks, stumbling back.

Iruka smiles at her. “I can! Do you know where you’re supposed to go next?”

She frowns. “Maybe?”

“Well, I’m a guide. If you’d like, I can help you.”

“Yes, please!”

“First, I need to ask what your name is. I’m Iruka.”

The girl scuffs her foot in the dirt. “I’m Chie.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Chie-san. To find out where to go, you just have to hold my hands like this… Very good! Now close your eyes and listen hard.”

Kakashi watches Chie squeeze Iruka’s fingers and shut her eyes tight.

They fly open a moment later, and she releases Iruka’s hands. “Oh! I know where that is. Thank you, Iruka-san!”

“You’re welcome. You should get going. Someone’s waiting for you; it would be rude to keep them waiting.”

She nods quickly and turns back toward the direction she came from. She runs a few steps, then disappears.

“That was easy,” Kakashi observes. “You didn’t even have to cast a spell.”

“They aren’t spells,” Iruka corrects sharply as he returs. “But you’re right. It was very easy. She was a new spirit.”

“You mean she died recently.”

“I do. She was probably killed by a spirit; that would explain the disorientation. It’s unnatural for the living to meet the dead, much less be murdered by them.”

He looks off into the direction Chie ran off in, and Kakashi stands by him quietly, unsettled in a way he can’t account for.

* * *

They meet a group of four spirits not long after Chie.

“Stay back,” Iruka orders. From a pocket, he pulls out a dagger. The sheath catches the light, and for some reason, Kakashi’s stomach rolls. “These want blood. They’ll see you and come running.”

Kakashi nods and sits back a second time as Iruka rushes forward.

He swings the blade through the spirits cleanly. It isn’t impressive, exactly, or showy, but as the spirits dissipate, Kakashi can’t argue that it gets the job done.

“You didn’t want to try your thing with any of them?” he asks as he rejoins Iruka. He doesn’t mean it as criticism, but Iruka flinches.

“Pain is usually what keeps spirits here. It seems cruel to inflict more on them, but in groups like that, they just feed off each other. I’ve tried to find a way to undo it- isolating one, purifying the others, letting them fight me… Nothing works.” His head droops. “They’re more of a memory of a spirit than anything. I doubt they even remember being human.”

They make camp not long after. Iruka wakes up four hours after he goes to sleep, and Kakashi gets four hours of sleep after.

In the morning, they set out again.

Iruka doesn’t look like he slept at all.

* * *

“I should explain something,” Iruka says out of nowhere. They’re still on the move, their lunches in hand. “You’ve noticed that being around restless spirits makes you feel unwell, right?”

Kakashi nods.

“That’s another symptom of the dead being where they don’t belong. I’m not sure what the exact cause is it, but regular purification will prevent the effect of their presence from affecting you too much. I can do it if I have to, but we’ll make a point of taking the time for you to be purified whenever we visit a shrine.”

“But not you?” Kakashi asks. “You look worse every time we encounter a spirit, Iruka-san.”

“I can’t be killed by spirits.”

“Because you’re a priest? Or aren’t you?”

“I’m not a priest.”

“But?” Kakashi prompts.

“But I made a deal when I was younger.” Iruka’s face is scrunched up in thought when Kakashi looks over at him. “You could say I’m somewhat dead.”

“How does that work?”

“The same way your Sharingan works. Not very well.”

“My Sharingan?”

“It exhausts you. An actual Uchiha wouldn’t have the same problem with the Sharingan that you have. An actual spirit doesn’t get wiped out every time it bumps into another spirit.”

It makes sense, in a convoluted way.

“And your dagger? Does it work on spirits because it’s been blessed?”

Iruka shakes his head. “The opposite- it’s a cursed weapon. It can’t be used on anything living.”

“It won’t work?”

“No, it will. You’ll just have to give up some of your soul in exchange.”

“You aren’t going to tell me where you got it, are you?”

“I’m not. There are a lot of things I can tell you, Kakashi-san, but some things aren’t meant for the living.”

Kakashi doesn’t point out that by Iruka’s own logic, he’s a member of the living, too.

* * *

A group of nine bloodthirsty spirits is waiting outside the shrine Iruka has been leading him to.

“What now?” Kakashi asks.

Iruka shakes his head. He’s been purifying spirits more and more often. The soldier pills don’t do much for him because they work on chakra, not whatever restless spirits take.

“We can’t leave. There are people in the shrine. And without the priest inside the shrine, we’ll never get anywhere.”

“I can’t just carry you over their heads?”

Iruka shakes his head, but Kakashi can see him smile. “Unfortunately, Kakashi-san, part of why this shrine is so important is that the priest’s husband is a ninja. Disarming his traps without getting trapped by the spirits would be impossible.”

“Really?”

“They’re… an interesting couple.”

“You don’t sound very enthusiastic.”

“This is the first shrine I entered after I made my deal. It was something of an event.” At Kakashi’s questioning look, Iruka rubs his forehead. “I stumbled across it in the middle of the night. The priest thought I was a restless spirit, and his husband thought I was a thief. I’m pretty sure I only survived because they weren’t expecting me to stop and dip my hand in the water outside the shrine.”

Kakashi looks at Iruka with new eyes. “You seemed a lot cooler when I first met you.”

“I can’t say I feel the same. An old woman was dragging you around by the ankle. It’s only up from there, right?”

Despite himself, Kakashi coughs a laugh.

Iruka manages a wider smile, only for his expression to fall a moment later. “We’re going to have to purify all of them with violence, unfortunately.”

“We?”

Iruka nods. “We. I’m too drained to do this reliably on my own.”

“What do you need me to do?”

Iruka takes one of Kakashi’s hands and presses the dagger into it.

“You’re going to use this. It works just like any other blade. Just remember you need to cut through them in a way that would kill a human instantly. If it would hurt a living being or cause them to bleed out slowly, it won’t work.”

That won’t be too difficult. “Will it feel different?”

“Emotionally or physically?”

“Physically.”

“It will feel closer to cutting paper than cutting flesh, but you’ll have to swing just as hard.”

Kakashi nods. “Anything else?”

“Yeah. You have to be quick. When they get this far gone, they can drain your life in seconds. So we’re going to walk to the edge of the trees, and when we get there, I’m going to shield you. I can only hold it for fifteen seconds, though. That’s a hard limit, Kakashi-san. Not fifteen point one seconds. Not fifteen point zero zero one seconds. Fifteen seconds exactly. Do you understand?”

“I do.”

“Good. Then the last thing you have to know is that doing this will knock me out. When you finish, please bring me into the shrine. Any questions?”

Kakashi shakes his head. “I’m ready when you are.”

“Then let’s get this over.”

* * *

Kakashi stands at the edge of the trees, Iruka’s dagger in his palm. The spirits are staring at him but haven’t moved.

Behind Kakashi, Iruka is chanting. His voice is too soft for Kakashi to make out what he’s saying, but the sounds are low and even.

A bell rings.

_Three._

Kakashi shifts his weight.

_Two._

Kakashi unsheathes the dagger.

_One._

Iruka claps, and Kakashi sprints from the trees toward the group of spirits, already counting back from fifteen.

He can’t see or feel any sign of the shield Iruka promised, but as he slashes through the first spirit and turns toward the next, he doesn’t feel the same oppressive sense of doom that weighed on him around other spirits.

The second, third, and fourth spirits fall before he reaches ten.

The fifth and sixth go down in one strike.

The last three spread out. Kakashi chases the one closest to him, hops into the air, and cuts through it. Taking a risk, he uses the spirit’s fading body and launches himself at the eighth spirit.

He hits it like he would with Chidori and only remembers to rip after he’s stopped.

_Three._

The ninth is rushing toward him, but the eighth is holding onto Kakashi’s wrist, keeping him from freeing the blade.

_Two._

The eighth is fading, but it’s going slowly. Maybe, if the eighth disappears before the ninth drains him, Kakashi will have enough strength to cut it down.

 _If we survive, Iruka is going to yell at me,_ Kakashi thinks. _Is that motivation or resignation?_

The eighth isn’t going to fade quickly enough, and as Kakashi thinks, _One,_ he prepares himself for Iruka’s shield to disappear.

He looks up at the ninth, waiting for it to reach him.

It swings its inhuman hand toward Kakashi, the shield falls, and in the moment before Kakashi passes out, he sees the spirit explode.

* * *

Iruka’s voice is the first thing Kakashi hears.

The second is a cat purring.

“Oh!” a voice that doesn’t belong to Iruka says. “Your friend’s awake, Iruka-kun.”

“Akagi, you’re too loud,” another second voice that doesn’t belong to Iruka says. “It’s as if you weren’t a ninja.”

“To be fair, I wasn’t a very good one.”

Blinking the world into focus, Kakashi takes stock of himself. He’s lying on his back under a blanket. There’s a cat on his chest. Off to the side, Iruka is sitting with two large men, one dressed in priest’s clothes and the other lounging in a loose kimono Kakashi is almost positive came from an onsen.

“Iruka-san?”

“Welcome back. Takaki-san saved us,” Iruka explains, gesturing at the man in the priest’s clothes. “He recognized that something was happening with the spirits and was waiting just in case.”

“I see. Thank you, Takaki-san.”

“Any friend of Iruka’s is a friend of ours.” Takaki smiles at him. “And Fuku likes you. She’s got good taste.”

“You say that because she likes you,” 

“So do you, you know.”

“Theoretically.”

The couple trades eye rolls.

“Why don’t we leave you two for a while?” Takaki suggests. “Akagi and I have some things to work on. We’ll come back when the food’s ready.”

“But, Takaki-”

“Lots to do.”

“Fine. See you later, Kakashi-san. Iruka-kun.”

Akagi follows his husband out, Fuku hot on their tail, and Kakashi looks at Iruka.

“Those two came running at you, huh?”

Iruka nods. “It was terrifying.”

“Worse than facing bloodthirsty spirits?”

“Much worse.”

Iruka quirks one of his smiles at Kakashi, and Kakashi feels himself smile back.

The familiar slide of his mask is surprising. “You left my mask on?”

“This is a shrine looked after by a man whose husband is a shinobi. Or was? They’ve never explained it.” Iruka shakes his head. “The point is, they understand the value of not prying into things that don’t need to be pried into.”

“I see… They seem to be taking good care of you.” As he says it, Kakashi realizes how true it is. Iruka’s face isn’t so strained, and he looks clean for the first time since they left Konoha weeks ago. “How long was I out?”

“Eight hours? Maybe nine.”

“How come you look so much better?” Kakashi asks, suspicion spiking.

“I did tell you that being purified regularly would fight the effects of exposure to spirits. This place is kept ritually clean.”

“It takes that much out of you to be out there? You looked like you were dying.”

Iruka shrugs. “If I were wholly human, I would have been. It’s fortunate for us that I’m not.”

“But it still hurts you. You should be more careful.”

“Thank you, Kakashi-san. It’s very kind of you to worry about me.” Iruka’s expression says he really is grateful. “This is going to be a long journey, though, and I’m going to look worse than I did back there. So long as I can make it back to a shrine eventually, I’ll be fine.”

Somehow, Kakashi doesn’t trust Iruka’s smile this time.

“If you say so,” he hedges.

“I do!”

Tension settles in the room, but it’s cut by Akagi’s return. He has a tray in his hands and a black cloth over one arm. 

“Food for both you,” he says warmly. “And clothes for the shinobi.”

“Thank you, but I’m already-”

“They’ve been blessed by the god of this shrine,” Akagi says over him. “You’ll be more resistant to the spirits’ presence with them. That should lighten your burden, right, Iruka-kun?”

Kakashi looks at Iruka sharply. “Burden?”

“Iruka-kun!”

Iruka glares at Akagi. “Humans need to be shielded to some degree. It isn’t that bad, though.”

“Yes, it is. But don’t worry. Takaki is waiting in the back so you can show him your new moves. I’ll look after your new friend.”

Iruka looks between them. “I’ll be back soon, Kakashi-san.”

“Of course.” Kakashi waves him on.

As soon as Iruka disappears, Kakashi turns to Akagi. “What else do I need to know?”

Akagi smiles sharply. “I like you. Get ready, Kakashi-san. You’re about to get a crash course in dealing with restless spirits.”

* * *

Kakashi and Iruka leave at dawn. Iruka still looks better than Kakashi has ever seen him, and Kakashi is dressed comfortably in a jacket like Akagi’s.

The husbands wave at them from the shrine.

“You left a lot out, Iruka-san,” Kakashi accuses when the shrine is no longer in sight.

Iruka winces. “I’m sorry. I don’t get to spend much time with humans. I haven’t been around anyone without some awareness of how to approach spirits since I left Konoha.”

“Really? Why not?”

“The tendency for humans to die around restless spirits is kind of a downer.”

_That isn’t unreasonable._

“Well, you’re stuck with one now.”

“Yeah, but you’re better with the dagger than I am. Speaking of…” Iruka reaches into his pocket and holds out the blade, sheath first. “You should have something to defend yourself with.”

Kakashi accepts the offering, but the weight feels more like a threat than a reassurance. 

* * *

They come across a village that was ravaged like Konoha was a few days after they leave Akagi and Takaki. Most of the villagers seem to have fled, but Iruka finds one old man still in his bed.

He’s going to die soon. Kakashi can see that plainly.

Iruka sits by the man’s bed and takes his hand.

Uncomfortable and useless, Kakashi leaves them alone.

On his own, he feels even more unsettled. The village is too empty. He’s surrounded by signs of panic and flight. This wasn’t an organized relocation.

This was terror.

This was Konoha. If it weren’t for Iruka, this is what Konoha would be.

He hears Iruka’s approach and silently appreciates that Iruka didn’t try to soften his footsteps.

“Kakashi-san.”

“Is he dead?”

“He is. Dead and buried. We should get moving.”

* * *

“The Third was wrong,” Iruka says, breaking the silence as they get back on the road. “Back in Konoha, he said I didn’t want Konoha to be my home. I do.”

“You have a weird way of showing it,” Kakashi points out. “If you want it to be your home, you should live there.”

“I can’t. Until I know my parents’ spirits are at peace, I can’t make a permanent home.”

“How do you know they aren’t at peace? Have you seen them?”

Iruka doesn’t answer, which is answer enough for Kakashi.

“You’re searching for something that doesn’t exist. They aren’t suffering. You are.”

Again, Iruka doesn’t answer. Kakashi lets him have his silence. Kakashi can’t make him grieve.

* * *

When they stop and make camp, Kakashi has to ask the question that’s been gnawing at him for hours.

“Does it help them?”

“To have someone with them when they die?” Iruka asks. Kakashi nods, and Iruka shakes his head. “I don’t know. Sometimes they leave entirely on their own, like this one. Other times, they linger.”

“So not being alone isn’t a comfort.”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“But you said you can’t tell if it helps.”

“Spirits with bodies and spirits without bodies aren’t the same. Things that happen around their deaths in particular don’t necessarily carry over, but they matter in this world. Don’t be so quick to dismiss the living.”

It’s a gentle rebuke, but it’s a rebuke nonetheless.

“Iruka-san?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

* * *

They reach the next shrine in the afternoon of the next day. Iruka’s complexion has been growing steadily ashen; by the time they leave the next afternoon, he looks almost completely revived. 

* * *

“You can feel spirits, right? Even ones that aren’t restless?”

In the middle of digging into his lunch, Iruka pauses with his mouth full.

_He really is too much like Naruto._

Swallowing, Iruka nods. “Is something wrong?”

He steps closer to Kakashi, his brow wrinkling in concern.

Kakashi shakes his head. “No, I was just thinking.”

“About?”

“Is possession real?”

“The spirits of the dead inhabiting the bodies of the living, you mean? Not that I know of. Why?”

Uncomfortable even though this is a conversation he started, Kakashi fights the urge to fidget. He should have taken his book out. “My Sharingan isn’t really mine. Someone gave it to me.”

Iruka’s expression softens, understanding dawning without Kakashi having to spell it out. “Someone special, you mean.”

“He was… A friend, yes.”

“And you want to know if he’s still in it?”

“Sorry, it’s a weird question, isn’t it? You don’t have to-”

“It isn’t. And no, he isn’t.”

Taken aback, Kakashi blinks at him. “You can tell that quickly?”

“We’ve been traveling together for long enough that I would have known by now if you had someone else’s spirit in your body.” Iruka takes a bite from his sandwich and chews thoughtfully. “You’re still thinking about that town.”

Kakashi nods. “You said that being with the dying matters.”

“If that’s what they want.” Iruka pops the last bite of his lunch into his mouth. It’s been two weeks since they visited a shrine, and the lines around Iruka’s mouth are deep. “Our bodies don’t define our spirits, but they do affect them. Your friend’s spirit isn’t in that eye, Kakashi-san, but the act of giving it to you changed yours. He’s still here, in that regard.”

“I see.”

Kakashi doesn’t tell Iruka he was thinking about the Obito he feels with him sometimes, but as Iruka wipes his hands off on his pants, he looks at Kakashi sharply.

“Haunting is real, but the longer the spirit stays, the more of itself it loses,” he says slowly. “They can’t last a year without becoming so lost, all they want is the blood. It’s nice to feel a reminder of them sometimes, though, isn’t it? My father always liked dogs. Sometimes I hear him telling me how handsome this dog or that dog is. He can’t be so far away if I can still hear him.”

Iruka smiles at Kakashi, bright and unreserved, and Kakashi’s gut twists at the thought that the comfort Iruka finds is the same thing that drives him to hurt himself.

* * *

The come across more abandoned towns, and Iruka trains more priests and priestesses. They cross into other Lands, directed only by Iruka’s sense of where spirits are gathering.

Kakashi has to toss around thieves now and then, but more often than not, the people they encounter are just scared and hungry. Iruka shares too much of his food and insists on using energy he doesn’t have on blessings.

Kakashi stops trying to get Iruka to prioritize himself and concentrates on sneaking him larger portions of food.

Iruka fights with him about it every time. He pushes food at Kakashi after they leave every shrine and argues loudly about the extra until he gets so worn down from purifying spirits that he can’t make himself speak. Kakashi keeps himself sharp by stealthily giving Iruka more food when he’s most suspicious.

* * *

“You’re too invested in that mask,” Iruka sighs as they leave the most recent shrine.

Kakashi shrugs. “I got in the bath, didn’t I?”

“You did,” Iruka allows, spirits in dampened. He wasn’t kidding about liking onsen; he’s been smiling ever since he got in. “It doesn’t feel good that I’m as curious as a twelve year old, though.”

“Is that a request, Iruka-san? Would you like me to take my mask off?”

“Naruto already warned me that you wear two,” Iruka says sourly, tolling his eyes. “And I have a theory about your mask.”

“That I like to be mysterious?” Kakashi asks.

Iruka shakes his head. “That was my first thought, but you’re not a mysterious person. You’re a stubborn one, though. And you like to annoy people. So my theory is you used to like the mystery, but at this point, you’re just having fun frustrating people.” His smile returns, even brighter than before. “Am I close?”

Kakashi blinks at him. “Nope.”

“You’re only proving my theory now.”

“The only way not to prove it would be take it off, Iruka-san. You’ve set an impossible trap.”

“Not impossible,” Iruka corrects. “If I’m right, then if you didn’t want to annoy someone, you’d let them have the satisfaction of taking it off.”

Kakashi shakes his head. “I remember hearing that you liked to play tricks at the Academy. You’re projecting yourself onto me.”

“Maybe I am. Only time will tell!”

Iruka laughs, and Kakashi sighs at him.

But he can’t shake the thought of Iruka’s hands on his face, slipping the mask off and smiling like he’s never been happier.

* * *

Kakashi watches Iruka’s grimace get progressively worse as they cross a swamp.

“I changed my mind. I think your fixation on my mask is to compensate for how much skin you show.”

Iruka throws him a dirty look. He’s holding up the bottom of his kimono, material bunched in his fists almost above his knees.

“You’re an ass,” he says.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” Kakashi asks. “I can almost see your-”

“So help me, I will murder you if you finish that sentence.”

“Navel,” Kakashi says, finishing his sentence.

Iruka looks down and, realizing his kimono has fallen open further than he generally allows it, lets out an angry huff.

“Am I still going to be murdered?” Kakashi asks. “You’re the one dressing kinagashi.”

“I would throw mud at you, but I have to dip my hands in the shrine’s water.”

“You’re in a violent mood.”

“There are five spirits standing at the gate to the shrine,” Iruka grits. “There are at least fifteen people taking sanctuary inside, including children.”

“You can sense them from this far away?”

“This is a country where you’re strong or you’re dead, Kakashi-san. You can imagine that might take a toll on people who are neither.” His jaw clenches. “So no, we can’t go in from above this time either. It would frighten them needlessly, and I won’t do that.”

Iruka’s hands have begun to shake.

“You’re trying to keep clean because you don’t want them to worry about you. I can understand that.” Kakashi looks over at Iruka and smiles. “Let’s go see them before you get dirty!”

He grabs Iruka and body flickers to the edge of the swamp, yards away from the spirits.

“Kakashi!” Iruka shouts, but his annoyance is far away as Kakashi slashes his way through the spirits blocking the shrine.

_You’re one to talk about stubbornness. But if this is what needs to be done, then I’ll clear the path for you._

* * *

The shrine is so quiet, Kakashi starts to worry, but a priestess emerges from around a building and cries Iruka’s name.

He bows, and Kakashi mimics him without being told.

The priestess bows in return and gestures for them to follow her.

* * *

Kakashi never sees the other people in the shrine, but he feels them. They don’t have any ill-intent; they just keep out of sight.

Iruka doesn’t seem bothered by his absent welcome. He speaks to the mostly-silent priestess and eagerly asks about people Kakashi never sees.

He doesn’t offer to teach her how to fight off restless spirits. The closest he comes to mentioning them is telling her that Kakashi is traveling with him because the roads have become so dangerous. The priestess nods her understanding, and Iruka asks if she’d mind blessing them before they leave.

She smiles at the request. “How could I not?”

Iruka ducks his head.

Kakashi trades looks with the priestess over Iruka’s head. She frowns at him as if Kakashi is the aberration when this place, with its hidden residents and Iruka’s fierce loyalty, is the part that doesn’t fit.

_Why is he happy to make a family here but flatly rejects the Will of Fire?_

* * *

Kakashi is no closer to an answer when they leave the next morning.

* * *

Iruka answers his question as they break for lunch hours later.

“They always ask me if I’ve found my parents,” he says without looking at Kakashi. “When I told them why I left Konoha, they told me they’d look for them. Some of them make offerings and pray that I do.”

 _Which is more than anyone in Konoha did,_ Kakashi finishes. _We’re shinobi. Hiruzen himself checked in on Iruka. How did so many of us misjudge one child so badly?_

Iruka lifts his chin, a gesture Kakashi has learned to dread and appreciate in turns. “You can call it silly-”

“It isn’t. I visit the memorial for my friends. I know they aren’t there, but I still visit. We all want to feel the people we love and remember them, right? I just know where mine are.”

Kakashi always enjoys catching Iruka off-guard. The look of open-mouthed surprise makes him look cute even when he’s barely able to walk. He’s too used to being the one running circles around people; it’s a treat to wrap a metaphorical foot around his ankle and watch him fall on his face because he underestimated Kakashi.

This time, Kakashi just sees a man who’s been waiting for his pain to be acknowledged for so long, he doesn’t know what to do now that someone has.

“Hey,” Kakashi drawls, “want to play I Spy?”

“I don’t know, Kakashi,” Iruka drawls back, regaining his footing. “Would you like to sit in a patch of stinging nettles?”

Kakashi shakes his head, opting not to mention the missing honorific. “You’re just mad that I’m better than you are even though you have twice as many eyes.”

“I could have fifty eyes and still not see the top of my head- which you can’t do either because you aren’t taller than I am!

“Ah, I think you’ll find there’s a three centimeter difference, and it’s in my favor.”

Iruka’s eye twitches, and Kakashi enjoys the glow of a job well done.

* * *

Iruka is beginning to look ill when he leads Kakashi to a town that looks untouched by spirits. He’s been leading them to it specifically. He hasn’t said as much openly, but he said there isn’t a shrine nearby but insisted on coming anyway. There isn’t much room to misinterpret that.

The two of them walk in together, passing a few people as they do. All of them nod at Iruka, who nods back.

Iruka is telling him about the town, explaining that it’s a small farming community, when two women run up to him. They greet him by name, excitement clear in the enthusiastic hugs they pull him into, and Iruka laughs and flushes at something one of them whispers in his ear.

They don’t acknowledge Kakashi as they tug Iruka to the table where they’d been sitting. It’s an experience that once would have been strange- Kakashi is still a tall man with silver hair wearing shinobi gear- but traveling with Iruka has made it a regular experience.

He can’t say he minds it.

“I take it you have friends here,” he says when Iruka rejoins him.

“You could say that.” Iruka flushes, which is interesting. Something very interesting must be going on here for Iruka to be so flustered already. “It’s more like we have a mutual friend, really. It seems he’s doing well. It’s a relief; he can be a bit… dogged.”

“Does this friend have something to do with this place flourishing despite the destruction around it?”

“He does! Inadvertently, but yes, I’m sure Yamiyo is the one who’s keeping the town safe from the restless spirits.”

“But he’s staying here? He isn’t helping other towns? Isn’t that a little selfish?”

Safe behind his mask, Kakashi purses his lips.

_Where did that come from?_

Iruka throws a weird look at him. “Where did that come from? Yamiyo isn’t being selfish. Even if his situation weren’t so complicated, is it really such a bad thing to keep one place safe?”

“No, I guess it wouldn’t be.”

Iruka nods crisply and takes a few quick steps that pointedly put him ahead of Kakashi.

Kakashi has been meaning to point out how funny he looks when he’s doing his annoyed walk, and this is the perfect opportunity.

Instead, his eyes drop to the hilt of the sword Iruka carries but never uses. He gets squirrely when Kakashi asks about it, so Kakashi hasn’t pressed him for more information, but every blatant attempt to change the topic makes him more curious.

Now definitely wouldn’t be a good time to ask.

More people recognize Iruka and call out greetings as Iruka and Kakashi make their way through the town. They don’t come up like the women had, and Kakashi doesn’t fight the relief he feels at that.

If he weren’t walking with Kakashi, Iruka would fit right in with townspeople. His clothes are a little more worn, but for someone who spends as much time sleeping on the ground and running around, Iruka looks good.

Kakashi’s drift lower, but he looks up quickly, focusing on the bobbing of Iruka’s ponytail.

He concentrates so hard on not thinking about why he keeps doing that, Kakashi almost misses the man coming up on the other side of Iruka. He reaches for the dagger, but Iruka holds out a placating hand.

“Yamiyo!” he says happily, leaving Kakashi to hug the shaggy-haired man who popped up beside them. “How are you? It’s been too long.”

Yamiyo bares too-white teeth in a smile as he returns Iruka’s hug. He stands head and shoulders over Iruka, the effect only amplified by his wider shoulders.

The effect isn’t one Kakashi likes.

“It’s good to see you again, Iruka,” he says when they step back. His deep voice rumbles like a growl. “Are you well? You look like you’ve been overextending yourself again.”

“You know me too well,” Iruka says, rubbing the back of his neck with a laugh, “but it was worth it to see an old friend. And look- I didn’t come alone.” He gestures at Kakashi. “Yamiyo, this is Hatake Kakashi. Kakashi, this is Yamiyo, the friend I told you about.”

Yamiyo inclines his head; Kakashi mirrors him.

“Did you come about the spirits?” Yamiyo asks, his eyes drifting past them for a moment before they flick back to Iruka. “What’s going on out there, Iruka?”

“A ninjutsu gone wrong, we think.”

“I don’t like it.”

“You aren’t alone. How are the town’s spirits?”

Snorting, Yamiyo lifts one shoulder in a lazy shrug. “The few who haven’t left yet are resting. I don’t have your soft touch, I guess.” He and Iruka laugh, sharing a private joke that leaves Kakashi even further in the cold. “You smell like you’ve been spilling blood.”

“It’s been necessary, unfortunately,” Iruka replies. “I’ve been able to help the ones I can because Kakashi helps carry the burden.”

Yamiyo flicks a doubtful look over Kakashi. “If you say so.”

To Kakashi’s surprise, Iruka makes a noise of annoyance. “I do. That’s why I said it.”

“I’ve annoyed you.”

“Good of you to notice.”

Yamiyo’s teeth flash in another smile, and Kakashi puts his finger on why it bothers him so much- Yamiyo’s teeth are all pointed.

Without warning, Yamiyo tenses, his attention snapping back to the point he was fixated on earlier. “I’m sorry, but I have to go. There’s a pack of spirits headed toward the village. I probably won’t be back for some time.”

“Then I’ll say goodbye now,” Iruka says softly. “Be careful, Yamiyo.”

“Why should I? What are they going to do- kill me?” Yamiyo laughs, but the sound is closer to a howl. “Goodbye, Iruka. Good to meet you, Kakashi-san. Try not to let Iruka run you down too much.”

Message delivered, Yamiyo darts away, his body darkening and stretching into a shape no human could make as he flies past them.

“How do you know him?” Kakashi asks.

Iruka doesn’t look away from the last place they saw Yamiyo. “He’s the reason I can touch spirits without dying.”

“Him?” Kakashi asks. “Is there something special about him- other than his teeth?”

Iruka turns back to him. “Why are you so hung up on his teeth? He’s a black dog. Dogs need sharp teeth.”

“A what?”

Iruka scratches at his cheek, face red with embarrassment. “That’s right; you wouldn’t know. Black dogs are foreign, so they’re very rare. Yamiyo’s the only one I know, but he says he’s heard of a few others.” Kakashi gives Iruka a curious look, and Iruka shrugs. “Put simply, black dogs are spirits who help the dead find their way to the next world.”

“So they’re like you.”

“In a way. Black dogs are tied to certain places, though. Yamiyo can never leave this place. Even if everyone dies, he’ll remain.”

“Why? If there are no new spirits, what’s the point?”

“Because you started speaking before I could tell you the second part of what a black dog does.” He looks at Kakashi flatly. “If you hadn’t interrupted, I would have explained that black dogs also protect the ground where bodies are laid to rest. If someone tried to desecrate this place a thousand years after the last resident died, Yamiyo would still be here protect it.”

It sounds like a punishment, and Kakashi says as much.

Beside him, Iruka hums in agreement. “It does, doesn’t it? Yamiyo had to volunteer to become a black dog, though. Whatever his reasons were, he chose this.”

“And that’s why we came here,” Kakashi surmises. “You wanted to visit him.”

“We all get lonely, Kakashi.”

“Using my kind nature against me isn’t very nice, Iruka.”

Iruka shakes his head, but his good is back. “Neither is pissing on my leg, but that didn’t stop you earlier, did it?”

“You should be telling Yamiyo that. He’s the dog.”

“You do realize that being a person makes this worse for you, right? You do understand that marking your territory is a weird thing to do as a human?”

“It’s good that I’m not concerned with being weird, then!” Kakashi says cheerfully, fully enjoying Iruka’s annoyed shout.

* * *

Their good moods can’t last.

Iruka’s dies first, his joy fading as a spirit’s wail draws his attention to two restless spirits stumbling toward them.

* * *

They last saw a shrine almost a month ago. Kakashi is barely dragging himself along; Iruka is even worse. He started shaking last week, and he hasn’t stopped. They can’t turn back because they definitely won’t make it, but they’ve traveled beyond the areas Iruka knows. The nearest shrine could be even farther, or it could be only a day away.

They have enough reserves of food from the shrines they visited, but it isn’t food they need to worry about.

Iruka is lying on the ground, chest heaving after a long, unsuccessful attempt at helping a spirit leave on his own, when a shinobi shows up.

Kakashi is so tired, he doesn’t react until it’s too late.

Or would be, if the shinobi were interested in killing them.

“Kakashi!” a familiar voice shouts. “Are you giving up already? Where’s our priestly friend?”

Groaning, Kakashi gestures at the spot where Iruka collapsed. He watches Guy trot across the grass and lean over Iruka curiously.

Iruka doesn’t respond, and Guy nudges him with a foot. “Kakashi… Did you kill him? That’s a bad thing, you know. Hurting priests is bad luck.”

“I didn’t kill him!”

Iruka wheezes a laugh. “I think I know who you are. Kakashi complains about you a lot, Guy-san. I like you already.”

“Don’t encourage him!”

It’s too late. Guy is already grinning at Kakashi. It dies quickly, though. “The Fifth Hokage has been working tireless in Konoha, Kakashi. She even tried an experimental operation on Lee.”

“Guy…”

Eyes watering, Guy beams at him. “It was a success. His dream isn’t dead.”

“So he did recover,” Iruka says quietly.

“As well as saving my student, Tsunade ordered Konoha to set a trap for Orochimaru,” Guy continues. “Lee wasn’t supposed to go. But he did. How could he let his friends go into danger alone?”

Lee, Kakashi knows, is just as stubborn and good-hearted as his teacher.

“Is that why you’re here, Guy? Did something happen?”

Iruka mutters to himself again, his voice barely audible. “…not right… got the god’s promise…”

“Yes and no. The mission was a failure, but everyone survived thanks to intervention from Suna. That’s why I’m here. They need your help.”

“Iruka's help, you mean.”

Guy nods. “Correct. They think he’s Konoha’s priest. After all, why else would Konoha send its precious Hatake Kakashi with him?”

“Why Iruka, though?” Kakashi asks, not touching the wasp’s nest Guy just dropped at his feet. “There are plenty of priests Konoha could lend them.”

He looks over at Iruka. Even if they assume the request is legitimate, Suna isn’t close. They’ll have to cross almost the entire breadth of the Land of Fire and more.

Dragging himself upright, Iruka looks up at Guy. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“The kazekage didn’t ask for you specifically initially. He only asked for Konoha’s help.”

“And?” Iruka asks. He already knows the answer; he must.

“We sent two priests from Konoha, along with four chūnin. The chūnin reported the priests were killed by something that appeared to be mass of spirits.” Guy looks back down at Iruka. “The priest you left in Konoha, Yuuto, said we should come to you with this immediately.”

Horror contorts Iruka’s face, all the blood draining from it, and Kakashi gets an unwanted idea of what Iruka would look like as a restless sprit.

“Iruka?”

“This is bad,” Iruka rasps. He tries to get up, but his limbs have begun to shake. “This is… We need to go, Kakashi. We need to go _right now.”_

“You should rest at least for a little while,” Kakashi objects. “You’ll collapse if you try to leave now. What good will you do when you’re like that?”

“If I’m right, the entirety of Suna is in immediate danger. Everything there, living and spirit, could be wiped out.” Iruka takes a long, rattling breath in, but his eyes are wild. “And if Suna falls, the rest of the continent will follow on its heels.”

For the first time, Kakashi is actively grateful that Iruka doesn’t have much of a presence. If he did, Kakashi would be suffocating on it.

Without waiting for Kakashi to come up with an answer, Guy looks down at Iruka and says, “The Fifth sent me to help you in any way I can. I suggest that you let me carry you; we’ll move faster and you’ll conserve energy.”

Iruka’s expression melts into discontentment, but he doesn’t fight Guy. “Thank you, Guy-san. Before we leave, though, I need to do something quickly.”

He reaches into his bag and pulls out a branch. “Come here, both of you. If I’m going to be carried anyway, I may as well use the last of my energy to help you how I can.”

Well used to Iruka’s rituals, Kakashi kneels in front of him and bows his head without being asked. Guy follows his lead, though Kakashi can feel his curiosity.

Iruka starts with Kakashi. “Be careful with the dagger in the next few days, Kakashi. Getting that close when I’m not protecting you will drain you much faster.”

Kakashi nods.

“Guy-san, in this bag are things I need for purification. There are also weapons. The ranged ones are fine for you to use. The close ones are absolutely not. I’m going to do what I can to protect you better, but please stay as far away from the spirits as you can.”

Guy nods.

“One last command before I begin. Under no circumstances is anyone to use my sword. Not for spirits, not for humans, not for cutting vines.”

Iruka’s voice scratches and fades as he chants, but he doesn’t seem concerned, so Kakashi doesn’t let himself worry about it.

The branch snaps by one of his hears, then snaps by the other.

“Look up at me please, Kakashi-san,” Iruka says. “Remove your mask and move your headband so I can touch your face.”

_This is new._

Kakashi slides his mask down as he looks up. Despite having his eyes closed, Iruka doesn’t struggle to find Kakashi’s face. He touches Kakashi’s forehead with two steady fingers and, chanting once more, draws them straight down Kakashi’s face from forehead to chin. His fingers are so cold it hurts.

He pulls his hand away, and as he does, the weariness Kakashi’s been fighting lifts. It doesn’t disappear entirely, but Kakashi can breathe easily again. His legs don’t shake.

“I would do more, but I can’t do this more than twice. Guy can’t continue without a blessing- and no, that isn’t negotiable, Guy-san.”

Kakashi gets to his feet and backs away. He doesn’t have to, he knows, but it feels strange to stay where he isn’t needed.

From his new vantage point, he can see what Iruka does next.

Iruka chants again, but this one is completely different from any Kakashi’s seen before. With Kakashi, he’s always spoken softly and quickly. With Guy, Iruka speaks sporadically and sharply. His hands glow, and as he lifts the branch above Guy’s head, it bursts into flame.

The ash disappears as it lands on Guy.

“You can get up now,” Iruka tells him as the glow around his hands disappears. He doesn’t open his eyes. “As Kakashi can confirm, when I do this much, I lose consciousness for a while. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

He’s barely finished speaking before he slumps forward.

“What an odd man,” Guy muses aloud. “This happens often?”

“Only when he does too mucy, so yes.” Kakashi grabs his bag. “I’d tell you it’s something you get used to, but I’d be lying.”

“I see. Well, I like him.” Guy gets to his feet. He eases Iruka onto one shoulder then throws the bag over the other.

“Are you ready?” he asks.

Kakashi nods.

“Then let's go!”

* * *

Without Iruka to warn them, they nearly stumble into more restless spirits than Kakashi cares to count. It rapidly becomes clear that without Iruka, they can’t get into any fights. He wasn’t overestimating himself when he said that using the dagger without Iruka’s protection would be harder.

At least it convinces Guy to keep his distance.

Sometimes they come across spirits that just seem lost, though, and Kakashi can only push Guy forward with a hand on his shoulder.

Unlike Iruka, Kakashi only sees death in their faces.

* * *

“You know, Kakashi, Naruto said something interesting while you were gone.”

Kakashi and Guy are racing down a road, opting to trade safety for speed. It’s been two days since Guy arrived, and Iruka’s continued unconsciousness is beginning to worry Kakashi.

Naruto is always a good distraction.

“He does that sometimes,” Kakashi replies. “What was it this time? Did he find a new nickname for Sasuke?”

“Actually, he said Lee’s operation would be a success.”

“Well, he’s a chronic optimist. I can’t say I wish he weren’t.”

Rather than laugh, Guy’s jaw flexes. “I asked him what made him so certain. I expected one of those brash replies he always has, but he just shrugged and said he’d mentioned Lee to Iruka.”

“He _is_ a-” Kakashi stops himself. Iruka has pointed out more than once that he isn’t a priest.

Guy levels him with a look that has more depth than Kakashi is willing to explore. “Before the operation, Lee was losing his will to live. I didn’t recognize him, Kakashi. The boy I’d watched work so hard to become a ninja, to overcome every obstacle that should have stopped him… I thought he’d die in that bed. After the surgery, Tsunade asked me if I’d tried anything on Lee. She was able to do an even better job on Lee than she’d thought. The damage had been lessened in a way she’d never seen before.”

“And you think Iruka had something to do with it.”

“He’s the only variable we can’t account for.”

“Are you going to ask him about it?”

“I am.”

There’s nothing else Kakashi can contribute. He settles for laying a hand on Guy’s shoulder and telling him not to cry while he’s carrying their best chance of survival.

* * *

Iruka wakes up that night. Guy set him down while he and Kakashi started making camp, and the first thing Iruka says is, “Oh. I woke up just in time to go back to sleep.”

Guy shouts in surprise.

Kakashi, who’s used to Iruka’s odd way of waking up, only shakes his head. “Iruka, you shouldn’t scare Guy like that. He isn’t used to your weird behavior.”

“You read Icha Icha. Don’t comment on my behavior.” Expression softening, Iruka turns to Guy. “Sorry about that, Guy-san. Thank you for carrying me.”

“It was nothing! You’re lighter than Kakashi, and I carry him all the time. For a genius, he doesn’t know how not to overuse that Sharingan.”

As Guy had clearly hoped, Iruka laughs, and Guy beams at him, thrilled to have a companion in tormenting Kakashi.

Rather than deal with that and knowing Guy will only worry about asking on his own when the situation is so delicate, Kakashi asks Iruka, “Hey, you know Lee, Guy’s student, right?”

Guy pulls a series of faces at Kakashi, all of them reproachful.

“Know him? I wouldn’t go that far. Naruto told me one of his friends might have to give up his dream of being a ninja because he got hurt, so I checked in on him.”

“That’s all?” Guy asks.

“It’s the only contact with him, yes. If you’re looking for the source of a miracle, though, that wasn’t my doing.”

Guy stares at him. “What do you mean?”

“I know a few minor gods. There’s one with a shrine not far from Konoha. He can barely stand me, but Lee sounded like exactly the kind of person he favors. I asked him to do what he could.”

“If that was all you planned to do, why visit Lee?” Kakashi asks.

“Naruto asked me to help him. It was the least I could do to meet the boy.”

Guy grabs Iruka’s hands. “Iruka-san… You saved Lee’s life. You saved his _dream.”_

“You really should be thanking that god, not me. All I did was remember that old man exists.”

Guy won’t accept that kind of response, so Kakashi interrupts, “Why doesn’t he like you?”

Iruka’s face turns red. “It really doesn’t matter.”

“Oh, you made him mad, didn’t you?” Kakashi knows that particular shade of embarrassed. Iruka did something when he was younger. “What did you do?”

“I painted his shrine.”

“Why is that so bad?” Guy asks. “Did you intentionally do it poorly?”

“In a way.” Iruka sighs. “I painted _on_ his shrine. I was eleven, so you can be assured that I didn’t do a good job and knew it.”

Kakashi clicks his tongue. “Such a deviant. I can’t believe you were so disrespectful, Iruka.”

“Again, you read Icha Icha. Your condemnation may as well be praise.”

* * *

They arrive in Suna the next day. Iruka’s mood from the night before has evaporated; in its place is the same desperation he had before they left.

The kazekage himself is waiting for them.

“Iruka-san, thank you for coming.”

Iruka doesn’t stop walking; his attention is fixed on a point beyond the kazekage. “Of course. The problem is at the other end of the village, correct?”

“Yes, but-”

“How much of the village have you evacuated?”

“About a third, but-”

“I apologize for my rudeness, Kazekage-sama, but if we don’t act quickly, Suna won’t have any problems because it won’t exist.” Reaching into his bag, he pulls out a branch like the one he used in the ritual with Kakashi and Guy. “You have your own priest, right?”

“We do.”

“Good. Have that person go through Suna and touch this to the door of every house. It’s a protective plant.”

“I will,” Rasa says, accepting the plant. “What else do you need?”

“Nothing you can give me, I’m afraid, other than space. While your priest works, I’ll begin.”

The kazekage leaves, and Iruka breaks into a run.

Kakashi and Guy follow suit.

“What will the branch do?” Guy asks.

“Normally, it repels ill intent. Here, though… In this case, it will keep the priest busy and reassure the villagers.”

“It’s that bad? Can’t they find more branches?”

Iruka shakes his head. “There aren’t enough branches in the world for what we’re about to face, I’m afraid.”

* * *

The “problem” in Suna looks almost like a massive ball of lightning chakra if Kakashi doesn’t pay attention to the faces that swirl through it, but it feels like a hundred spirits pulling at him and sounds like a hundred spirits screaming.

Iruka comes to a stop fifty yards from it and holds his hands out, stopping Kakashi and Guy as well.

“What is this?” Guy asks.

“If you’re asking for a name, there isn’t one. This has never happened before. I suppose ‘abomination’ is as good a word as any.” Iruka turns and lays his bag on the ground. “If you’re asking what it actually is, then all I can offer is a theory. This has never occurred before, but I’ve encountered small versions. So far as I can tell, it’s a mass of hateful spirits. Restless spirits who stay here too long get so thirsty for blood, they feed on other spirits. They feed on the living as well when they can, and when the living die, they feed on them a second time. They keep doing it and grow so large and so singular in their purpose, their energy combines. Left unchecked, the mass will continue to grow.

Guy looks at Iruka, stricken. “And then this happens.”

“And then this happens,” Iruka agrees.

Kakashi watches him root through his bag. “How are you going to stop it?”

“Good question.”

“Iruka!”

“Like I said, I’ve never seen this happen on this scale. I have a theory, though. I just need a couple things.”

The “couple things” turns out to be a pile of kunai with exploding tags.

“These look like regular weapons,” Guy says, frowning at the pile.

“That’s because they are. At a certain moment, I’m going to signal for you, and I need the two of you to throw them at the mass.”

“I thought they don’t work on spirits.”

“Regular weapons don’t hurt them, no. I don’t need you to do harm. I need you to be a distraction.”

“Iruka…”

“I was never going to be a good ninja,” Iruka says over him. “I can’t make myself want to kill. But I’m good at this. So trust me, okay?”

Kakashi swallows, and Iruka turns back toward the mass of spirits. It’s bright like lightning chakra, too; even in the daylight, looking at it makes Kakashi and Guy shield their eyes.

Iruka looks over his shoulder. “I’m going to be fine. I might need to sleep for a while, though. Look after my body for me, okay?”

“You can count on me,” Kakashi promises despite feeling sick to his stomach.

Iruka nods and begins walking toward the mass, one hand outstretched, chanting softly.

Guy punches Kakashi in the arm.

“Ow! What are you doing!”

“What are _you_ doing!” Guy snaps. “You’re just going to let him walk away like that? He’s going off to certain death, and you’re going to let him go without so much as a kiss?”

“It’s not like that!”

“It’s exactly like that! If you’re going to waste your youth, you should give it to me. Go be an old man somewhere else!”

“Guy…”

“I thought you’d learned to treasure life,” Guy says, voice heavy with disappointment. “Any of us could lose it at any time, Kakashi. Whatever that man is, he isn’t immortal. You may have waited too long to reach out and take the love you want.”

From the direction of the mass, a tower of light shoots up.

Guy reaches for the kunai, but Kakashi catches his hand and shakes his head. Iruka really should have told them what the signal should be. That could have been it.

Kakashi just doesn’t think it was.

The light disappears, and for a moment, the world is completely silent.

Kakashi waits, looking for the sign Iruka promised.

A shadow shoots into the air, flying high above the spirits, and in the middle of the Land of Wind’s parched desert comes the sound of soft rain.

“Now, Guy!”

Guy doesn’t question him. He grabs a kunai and hurls it. Kakashi is only a step behind him.

The shadow descends with a glint of light, reaches the spirits, and disappears.

Nothing happens.

* * *

Guy and Kakashi stand where Iruka left them for more than an hour. The only change is the silence.

Rasa joins them as night begins to fall.

“What’s he doing?”

Guy and Kakashi shake their heads.

“Haven’t you been traveling together?”

“We have, but he’d never seen anything like this. I certainly haven’t.” Kakashi squints at the spirits. “Whatever he’s doing, it hasn’t failed, at least.”

Guy looks at him curiously. “How do you know?”

“If it had, we’d all be dead, I think.”

Guy and Rasa turn back toward the spirits just in time for it to explode.

* * *

Guy beats Kakashi to the center of the new crater where the spirits used to be but stops abruptly.

Kakashi doesn’t notice. He’s too busy watching Iruka cough and struggle to stay upright as he sways in place, attention directed to the side.

Standing a foot away, directly in Iruka’s line of sight, is Suna’s jinchuuriki. The chakra seething around him has the same viciousness as the Nine Tails'.

“Iruka!” Kakashi calls, uncertain but instinctively disliking what he sees.

At the sound of his name, Iruka looks over. He’s leaning on his sword. Its tip is buried in the sand, but he doesn’t seem to care. “Ah, Kakashi. Great timing.”

“Are you-”

“Going to pass out? Yeah. Please look after Gaara until I wake up. And sheath my sword, if you could. It’s dangerous like this.”

Iruka sighs, his face relaxing, and Kakashi barely catches him.

* * *

Rasa doesn’t like being told by two shinobi from Konoha that one of his people is their ward, pursuant to the orders of a third, unconscious man. The fact that the person they’ve claimed is Gaara can only make it worse.

He reluctantly agrees to let them stay but in exchange, makes it clear the jounin they’re handed to is to be briefed fully on what happened.

Gaara follows them quietly. Aside from a change of clothes, he looks almost identical to the way he had during the exams.

Baki, who only twitched when he recognized Kakashi, remains measured as he leads them to the room where they’re going to be waiting together, but Kakashi can feel tension growing in the room.

A lot of it is his own.

Guy’s unusual silence weighs on Kakashi, but he can’t ask about it in front of the Suna shinobi.

Three hours in, Gaara says, “I heard the mission failed.”

Guy nods. “It did. Orochimaru remains at large.”

“And Lee?”

“What about him?”

“Is he recovering well?” Despite Gaara’s blank expression, Kakashi gets the feeling he’s uncomfortable. “He’d recently had surgery, hadn’t he? He seemed… better than the last time I saw him.”

Kakashi and Baki trade looks. There’s bad blood between Suna and Konoha. Pain and death are inevitable for shinobi. Trust gets broken; allies turn against each other. That doesn’t stop them from mattering.

And Guy loves Lee.

“Gaara,” Baki says carefully, “I’m not sure-”

“He’s doing very well,” Guy interrupts. “You arrived in time to minimize the damage he would have taken.”

“I see,” Gaara says, sounding like someone who doesn’t see. “I’m… glad. That he isn’t unwell.”

Guy nods. “As am I.”

Kakashi and Baki trade looks again. Kakashi shrugs- this is how Guy is. If Lee doesn’t want to hold a grudge, Guy won’t try to hold it for him.

Baki shakes his head. He doesn’t say anything, but Kakashi suspects he’s wondering what Suna is getting into with Konoha.

* * *

It’s nearly the end of the sixth day when Iruka sits up sharply and rasps, “Hello.”

He’s looking directly at Gaara.

The boy blinks at him. “Hello.”

Baki pours Iruka a drink from the pitcher they’ve been sharing. Iruka accepts it with a grateful bob of his head.

“So,” Baki begins as Iruka downs the drink, “what was that?”

“A consequence,” Iruka tells him evenly. His voice is still hoarse, but he seems to have recovered like he always does. “Bloodthirsty spirits were drawn here, and the more that came, the bloodthirstier they became. They fed off each other and got bigger.”

“They were drawn to Gaara, you mean,” Baki clarifies, inclining his head towards the boy.

Iruka nods.

Gaara clenches his jaw.

“And they’ll continue to be drawn to him.”

“They will.”

“How bad is that? And what can we do to prevent it?”

“May I?” Iruka asks, gesturing at the pitcher. Baki nods, and Iruka refill his cup to the brim. He drinks it pensively, considering Baki’s questions. “You had a bomb in Suna. Do you understand that? Your village was almost destroyed by itself.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“But you don’t _understand_ it,” Iruka argues. “You noticed that everyone in Suna was feeling unwell, didn’t you? When I got here, that mass of spirits was making itself stronger by killing your people, and when it reached the critical point where it couldn’t sustain itself, it would have detonated like any other bomb- except this one would have obliterated your country and likely reached as far as Konoha.”

Baki freezes.

“Please don’t consider using this warning as a weapon,” Iruka cautions. “Besides the cruelty, spirits are unstable. The energy they collect could be set off, or not set off, by anything.”

“So how do we prevent it?”

Iruka fixes Baki with a look that Kakashi would call hateful if he didn’t know Iruka. “Release the seal on that boy and do something else with your Tailed Beast.”

“That’s impossible,” Baki says as calmly as Iruka. “The jinchuuriki are the villages’ greatest weapons. Even transplanting them is dangerous. Suna won’t risk that any more than Konoha would.”

“The misery and thirst for blood the Tailed Beast amplifies in this boy are what draw the spirits to him. Dispel them before they accumulate and you should be fine.”

“You can’t do anything permanent?”

“I just told you what you could do permanently,” Iruka snaps. “You wanted a weapon, and you got one. Don’t complain to me that you made it double-edged.”

Baki straightens, but he doesn’t argue.

 _He knows this is a problem Suna made for itself,_ Kakashi thinks. _What will he do about it?_

“Will a traditional purification work?”

“Probably.”

Iruka shrugs carelessly, and Baki’s expression pinches.

“Iruka-san,” Guy interjects before Kakashi has to. “This isn’t his fault.”

“It isn’t, but he isn’t the one who’ll be living with the guilt for what almost happened, is he?” Collecting himself, Iruka says, “Your priests will already know what to do. While I’m here, I’ll train them further in protecting Suna from the violent spirits you’ll be attracting.”

He doesn’t ask if he’s invited to stay and helpl, and Kakashi watches Baki accept that he isn’t going to get civility from Iruka.

“How soon can you begin?”

“Right now, if you’ll let me.”

“After he eats,” Kakashi interrupts. “You were already weak before you did that, Iruka. You can eat while you work if you have to, but you’re eating something.”

The look Iruka gives him is poisonous. Kakashi looks back at him evenly, unwilling to be baited into an argument.

“Fine,” Iruka says, relenting. “Something small-”

“A normal portion.”

“-that I can eat while I teach.”

Baki looks between them, gaze assessing, before he nods and gets to his feet. “Gaara and I will be on our way, then.”

Iruka doesn’t argue, and that, more than the look on his face as Gaara wordlessly walks away, makes the concern gnawing at Kakashi grow.

* * *

The priests give them supplies generously. Iruka tries to object, but Kakashi, Guy, and the priests remind him that generously in this case means they’ll have enough to last a day or two beyond the end of the desert.

Guy splits with them at the gate.

“I need to report to the hokage,” he explains.

“Guy-san,” Iruka says quietly. “Could I ask you to tell Naruto I hope he’s doing well? And that I’m looking forward to seeing him again when we find our way back to Konoha?”

Expression somber, Guy lays a hand on Iruka’s shoulder. “That boy speaks of you often. I’m sure he’ll be excited to receive a message from you.”

Iruka nods. “Thank you.”

With one last pat of Iruka’s shoulder, Guy turns and sets off.

“Ready to go?” Kakashi asks.

“Yeah. Let’s get out of here.”

* * *

They’re resting in the shadowed mouth of a cave when Kakashi decides the best thing for the wound Iruka’s letting fester is to rip it open.

“You wanted Baki to fight with you.”

“I did.”

“That would have gone very badly.”

“If I fought fair.”

Kakashi crosses his arms, unimpressed.

“Fine, I would have gotten hurt. What’s your point?”

“You’re rattled. I’ve seen you upset before, but not like this. Should I be concerned?”

“I’m fine.”

“That’s the least convincing thing you’ve ever said.”

“Kakashi…”

“Don’t ‘Kakashi’ me,” Kakashi interrupts. “The whole time I’ve known you, you’ve been averse to violence. You hate having to use weapon on spirits, even when they’re hurting people. Why do you want to spill blood all of a sudden?”

Eyes fierce, Iruka clenches his fists. “I’m not averse to violence. I’m averse to doing unnecessary harm. Just because I didn’t want to be an assassin doesn’t mean I’ve never killed someone.”

 _Out of the frying pan and into the fire,_ Kakashi thinks ruefully. _How did I find something he’s even angrier about?_

Kakashi dips his head, acknowledging Iruka’s point. “My mistake. But that isn’t what you’ve been angry about.”

“Fine. I have a question, and all the answers I’ve found come short.”

“What’s the question? Maybe I can answer it.”

“Maybe you can.” Iruka unclenches his fists and leans back, crossing his arms like Kakashi. “Is this what my parents died for? Does every great land rely on a child to bear the burden of its survival? Is that all they are? Lightning rods for danger and hatred?”

“That’s two questions.”

“Typical.” Iruka turns away from him. “Why did I think a shinobi would open and honest with me? I’d have more luck getting water from a stone.”

Kakashi really should have waited until they got out of the desert. He didn’t, though, and leaving this partly done would be worse than finishing it.

“I don’t know about the other countries,” he says slowly, “but it seems we do put our hopes on our children.”

“No, you put everything on _a_ child. Naruto doesn’t live like an animal because Konoha loves him too much. And that boy- That Gaara, he was touched by so much death, I thought I was dead when I woke up.”

“What should we do, then?”

“How should I know? I’m not a shinobi, Kakashi! This isn’t my world!”

“Isn’t it? If you want Naruto to be your business, then the shinobi world has to be yours, too. You act like you get a say in it when it suits you, then turn around and say you aren’t part of it when you don’t like what happens.” Kakashi leans forward. “What do you expect to come of befriending Naruto, Iruka? You’re going to leave, and when you do, you’re going to hurt him far worse than Konoha ever could. Why prolong it? Why be kind to him at all?"

He’s right, but he pushed at the wrong time. Iruka’s eyes widen, face flushing with anger.

“You-” He draws a sharp breath in. “It’s my fault that you neglect him? I’m the bad one because I saw a miserable child and thought that it would be wrong to let him think he’s a monster? I’ve never been so glad to have left Konoha.”

“Yet your parents died for it. You spit on their sacrifice every time you say it isn’t your home. But please, keep going. I’m sure hearing you look down on the village they love brings the dead great comfort.”

Iruka gets to his feet, and Kakashi realizes his mistake.

_Too far, too far._

“Thank you for reminding me that the only sin Konoha can’t forgive is not wanting to die for it,” Iruka says stiffly. “You’ll have to forgive me, but I have no intentions of dying for that place. It’s fed on enough of my family’s blood.”

He leaves without asking if Kakashi is ready, and Kakashi has to race to catch up to him.

* * *

They don’t talk again until they leave the desert.

* * *

Kakashi almost asks why they aren’t encountering any spirits, but the memory of that roiling mass of human suffering rushes forward and Kakashi closes his mouth without saying anything.

* * *

Before their argument, Iruka had seemed incapable of extended periods of anger. His few extended periods of frustration with Kakashi hadn’t lasted longer than an hour.

It was a mistake to assume Iruka wasn’t deliberately setting down his rage.

The canteen gets shoved at Kakashi periodically. Any attempts at reminding him that Iruka is the priority, not Kakashi, are met with open hostility.

Guy could fix this, but Kakashi wasn’t wrong, and Iruka won’t acknowledge that visiting someone now and then isn’t loving them. It’s taking their love for yourself.

Naruto was happy with it, though. He had so little, he drank up Iruka’s attention. If he hadn’t been so starved, he never would have been interested in Iruka and Iruka never would have gone out of his way to talk to him.

The Third knew how Naruto lived.

Kakashi knew how Naruto lived.

The only ones who gave him better are a man who abandoned Konoha and a family running a ramen shop.

Maybe Kakashi wasn’t the only one who was right.

* * *

They reach woodland with two and a half days’ worth of rations left.

Iruka looks willing to continue his silence, but Kakashi can tell that carrying all that anger is wearing on him.

Kakashi tries to talk to him about it, but Iruka just walks away.

* * *

“Something’s different.”

It’s the first thing Iruka has volunteered to say in so long, Kakashi almost drops the canteen. They’ve been out of the desert for almost three days and faced almost no spirits, but Iruka looks more dead than alive.

Despite his suspicion that Iruka’s senses may not be dependable at the moment, Kakashi tilts his head to show he’s listening.

“The spirits are frightened.”

“Of?”

Iruka shakes his head. “Us. To the point that they’re intentionally pulling away from the world of the living.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Kakashi asks.

“Maybe.” Eyes narrowing at a point over Kakashi’s shoulder, Iruka crosses his arms across his chest. “I thought it was an aftereffect from what happened in Suna, but that’s not it… This isn’t about Gaara or the spirit bomb.”

Kakashi keeps his voice even as he asks, “Why would they be afraid of us?”

“If I had to guess… Someone’s trying to undo his mistake and doing it poorly.”

* * *

Clearly, they have to go after Orochimaru and Kabuto.

* * *

“How do we stop them?” Kakashi asks. “I could subdue Kabuto on my own, but he’s only doing this because of Orochimaru. I can’t defeat a member of the Sannin on my own.”

Iruka blinks at him.

“The Sannin are-”

“I know who the Sannin are.”

“If you know who they are, why are you looking at me like that?”

“Aren’t you going to suggest we go back to the village for reinforcements?”

Kakashi shakes his head. “We should do that, but I know you won’t. I don’t want to quarrel, Iruka. Besides, if you thought we should ask for help, you would have said so.”

The surprise on Iruka’s face hurts, but it isn’t entirely unearned.

“I did think about asking for assistance,” Iruka says slowly. “A pair would do better than a team or an army, though. If you’re willing to go with me, you’re all the help I’d need.”

He faces Kakashi squarely, no humility or request in his voice.

_So this is what you look like when you intend to wage war._

“In that case, we should get moving. We’ll plan as we move.”

* * *

Iruka sits down across from Kakashi as they make camp that night.

“I won’t apologize for being angry,” he says.

“I won’t apologize for pointing out that you’ll hurt Naruto when you leave.”

Anger twists Iruka’s features, but he takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “I don’t know why you’re so convinced I’m going to do that, and right now, I don’t care. I have no intentions of abandoning Naruto.” His mouth twitches. “Of all the accusations you could make against me, giving up on people is a poor choice, Kakashi. I’ve been chasing my dead parents for a decade. Letting go just isn’t in my nature.”

_He’s smiling?_

“You’re not angry at me anymore?” Kakashi asks.

“I haven’t been angry for a while, to be honest, but you did hurt me. You meant to do it, too. That’s the part I’m having trouble with.”

Kakashi accepts the accusation. “You hurt me first.”

“That’s your defense?”

“It’s my reason, yeah.”

“You…” Iruka shakes his head. “This has been illuminating.”

“Does that mean we’re talking again?”

“That does seem to be what’s happening.”

“Nobody apologized, Iruka.”

“If you’re expecting that to change things, you’re wrong.” Iruka pulls his blanket over his shoulders. “Neither of us regrets what we said. How we said it when we said it, sure, but I meant what I said, and so do you. I can live with that if you can. We can deal with the rest later if we need to.”

“I don’t like when you’re sensible,” Kakashi complains. “You’re supposed to yell at me.”

“Ask me tomorrow and I’ll be happy to oblige,” Iruka says around a yawn. “See you in four hours.”

“See you in four hours,” Kakashi echoes.

* * *

They don’t break for lunch the next day. Iruka just fishes food out of Kakashi’s bag and brings it around.

He also, Kakashi notices, pulls something out of his own bag.

“This is for you,” Iruka says, shaking it at him.

“Is that…”

“Jerky? Yeah.”

“You were hiding this from me,” Kakashi accuses. “I was eating tongue, and you had this.”

“I was hiding it _because_ you were eating tongue.”

“You like tongue, don’t you?”

Iruka lets that sit in the air for too long.

“You really need to read something other than Icha Icha, Kakashi,” he says, patting Kakashi’s shoulder with fake sympathy. “That’s not a line anyone would go for.”

“Give me the jerky.”

“Only if you give me the tongue.”

Kakashi groans.

Iruka hands him the bag of jerky.

* * *

More people have begun to travel openly again. Kakashi isn’t surprised to find that opportunistic thieves and highwaymen have returned as well.

They try to get the jump on Iruka and Kakashi now and then, but Kakashi sends them on their way easily. The hardest part is keeping an eye on Iruka, whose attention has been drifting ever since they left the desert.

More often than not, he doesn’t seem aware of where he is, only snapping back to reality when Kakashi nudges him.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on, or am I still being punished?” Kakashi asks as Iruka trips over the latest enterprising fool to come after them.

Iruka’s expression, which had been going distant, refocuses. “What was that?”

“You aren’t here.” Kakashi waves a hand in front of his face. “What’s going on?”

“Ah. Nothing, really.”

“I see.”

They continue forward, Iruka in a daze and Kakashi worrying.

* * *

Iruka gets stabbed.

It’s a minor wound, all things considered, but it was avoidable. If Iruka hadn’t been standing in the middle of the road, eyes glazed, as Kakashi took care of three attackers, he would have been able to dodge the fourth.

“You’re angry,” Iruka observes, flexing the hand Kakashi just finished bandaging.

“Stop that. You’ll make it worse.”

Iruka does, and when he looks over at Kakashi, he almost looks like himself again. “You remember I told you that I’m a little bit dead, right?”

Kakashi nods.

“The things that affect the dead can also affect me. I’m mostly human, so things like purification and blessings don’t have much of an effect, but I’m still connected to the next world. If something that affects spirits is powerful enough, though, then it can reach me.”

“That’s why you were so wiped out after the exams,” Kakashi says slowly. “It wasn’t just from purifying the spirits- when Kabuto brought the spirits here, he did something to you, too.”

“He did.” Iruka’s eyes start to shift away, and he blinks hard until they refocus. “I was already here, so it was more like he shoved my face in the ground, to be honest.”

Kakashi shakes his head as the pieces come together. “That means you can feel what Orochimaru’s doing now. Whatever he’s up to, it’s strong enough to get to you.”

“Exactly.”

“Then we better hurry.”

Iruka’s smile isn’t quite happy, but it’s real.

* * *

“If you can’t use the sword, what’s the point of having it?”

It takes Iruka a moment to come back from where he’s being pulled, and when he does, he needs another long moment to parse what Kakashi asked.

“Oh, I can use it,” he says. “Anyone could.”

“So why don’t you? I’ve never even seen you use it on a spirit, so it can’t be just an aversion to spilling blood.”

“‘Just’,” Iruka echoes faintly. Kakashi braces himself for an argument, but Iruka merely shakes his head. “You’re right, though. The reason I don’t use it has nothing to do with a refusal to take lives.”

“Would using it on humans would make it unholy?”

“Not really.” Eyes dropping, Iruka squints at the hilt where it rests by his hip. “Certain items can retain spiritual resonance. I used to use this, not the dagger, but so much resonance built up that it became dangerous. It’s too dangerous to leave with someone else, so I bring it with me. It could be useful as a last resort.”

“Is resonance really that dangerous?”

Iruka looks back up at Kakashi. “Not inherently. You can think of it as a vibration. One man marching across a bridge isn’t dangerous, but if an army marches across it in step, the bridge can collapse.”

Kakashi looks down at the sword. “So that’s an army?”

Iruka doesn’t answer, but when Kakashi checks his expression, Iruka hasn’t drifted.

“Iruka?”

“It’s more like ten armies,” Iruka says slowly. “Maybe more? I used it before I got good enough to reliably purify spirits without violence. I didn’t realize how bad it had gotten until last year. Add to that the fact that I had to use it on that abomination in Suna…” He shakes his head. “At this point, if I were to nick a human with the sword, they’d turn to dust.”

Kakashi’s breath freezes in his throat. “Dust?”

Iruka hums. “Maybe not dust, actually. Given the way energy moves when it’s drawn forcefully… That person would probably implode. Or maybe explode? Hmm. It would definitely be messy…”

His attention is already drifting before he finishes the sentence, and Kakashi lets him go.

* * *

Kakashi is making camp when he addresses the elephant in the room.

“How come I’ve been keeping watch all night every time we stop but I don’t get tired?”

Iruka doesn’t answer.

Kakashi pushes at him with his foot.

Coming back to himself, Iruka hides the startled noise he makes with a cough. “I was drifting again, wasn’t I? Sorry about that.”

“Forget it. I want to know why I’m not dead on my feet from lack of sleep.”

“That’s right. You’re the only one keeping watch.” Iruka’s face crinkles up as he looks Kakashi over. “I’m not sure.”

“Iruka.”

“It isn’t my doing,” Iruka insists. “You have some extra energy, but if I’d purified you or given you a blessing, it wouldn’t-” He stops suddenly and whips around to face the direction he’s been leading them in. “They aren’t… No, they are.”

“They are what?”

Iruka doesn’t look at him. “The spirits are afraid because they’re being turned into fuel. Energy is energy. With the right tools and enough depravity, you can make one into another. Those men found a way to use spirits to strengthen living humans. You aren’t tired because you’re being recharged.”

The disgust on Iruka’s face is so strong, Kakashi feels a reflexive kick of repulsion.

“Sorry.”

Iruka kicks Kakashi in the knee. “This isn’t your fault.”

“I’m benefiting from it, though.”

“So use it. They don’t know that every time they help themselves, they’re helping you, too. In fact…” Iruka’s mouth twists into a grim smile. “I’m better than they are. They’ve got a head start, but they’re wasting energy.”

“You don’t hate this?”

“Of course I do,” Iruka corrects. “There’s no point in trying to stay dry when they’ve already dragged us into the water. Right now, they’re splashing around at the edge of the beach. I’m going to show them how deep the ocean runs. Now, how hard will it be for me to touch your chest? I need to get as close to your heart as I can.”

Under a darkening sky, Kakashi pushes every rule he learned about how to behave in the field and strips.

* * *

Kakashi watches the sun rise with a feeling like there’s a second heart beating in his chest.

When Iruka sits up, his mouth is a thin, unhappy line.

“Do you regret it?” Kakashi asks.

“I don’t.”

“Your face says otherwise.”

“Shinobi…” Iruka shakes his head. “You see more than you should, and you misunderstand it.”

Kakashi crosses his arms. “Then explain it.”

“My face says it’s time for me to accept what comes next.”

“And that is…?”

Iruka cuts him a look. “Being a little bit more dead.”

* * *

“You realize I’m the one who’s going to be up the creek without a paddle if you die,” Kakashi points out as Iruka gets settled on his back on the ground. Iruka already told him this is going to take a long time, and Kakashi already pushed a big breakfast on him in response.

Iruka shakes his head. “We need to know exactly where Orochimaru and Kabuto are hiding. We’ve been walking toward their general location, and that won’t cut it anymore.”

_Now that we know what’s going on, you won’t let them._

“And don’t look at me like that,” Iruka continues. “I wouldn’t leave you alone.”

Kakashi’s hands clench into fists. Guy’s voice tells him to stop wasting his youth. “You can’t promise that, Iruka.”

“No, I can’t. I’m going to promise it anyway.”

The smile he gives Kakashi a warm smile he usually doesn’t share except with especially confused spirits and Naruto. Kakashi’s gut twists sharply.

Iruka waves a hand at him. “This is my life’s work, Kakashi. If I’m not willing to take a risk for their sake, I’ve only been blowing smoke.”

“You said this could actually kill you.”

“It could. You face death constantly. Now it’s my turn. So stop sulking. I can’t focus when you’re unhappy.”

Kakashi doesn’t have any idea what that means, and he doesn’t ask. He bites his tongue and watches Iruka take a step into a world Kakashi can’t even see.

* * *

There’s a bird in the tree above Kakashi. It’s been singing for a while now, chattering its unhappiness at his presence, and he’s been wondering idly what kind of bird it is. He can’t recognize many by sight and even fewer by sound, but it’s a good way to distract himself. How many types of birds can he name? Can he catch a glimpse of it through the thinning leaves?

It hasn’t stopped chattering at him as an hour passes, and it isn’t showing any sign of stopping. The sound is so anxious, Kakashi can’t help but feel a kinship with it.

* * *

The sun is almost directly overhead when Iruka’s back snaps up straight and his eyes fly open. He doesn’t speak, just stares blankly into the trees.

Overhead, the bird’s chattering gets louder.

* * *

“Orochimaru is hiding to the west.”

Iruka’s eyes clear, but the circles under his eyes have grown so wide and dark they look like healing black eyes.

“Do you want to rest?” Kakashi suggests.

“Of course I do,” Iruka says. He gets to his feet unsteadily, only to pause. “Is that a mozu?” He looks around at the ground. “Autumn’s here already, huh?”

“Mozu?” Kakashi asks. “Is that what it’s called?”

Iruka nods and smiles softly. “They always sing like this in autumn- my parents used to ask for a day off together once a year so the three of us could leave the village to hear them.”

“A good omen, then.”

“Perhaps. But good omens won’t mean anything if we don’t get moving.”

Lifting his bag up, Iruka slips it into place. He wobbles a little but stays upright.

Kakashi nods and gets up as well. “Let’s go.”

* * *

They’re sharing a bag of dried fruit during a moment of rest when Iruka says, “I’m going to kill them. You should know that.”

“Konoha may object to that. Orochimaru has knowledge that could benefit the village.”

“Are you saying you’ll stop me?”

Kakashi keeps himself still and his voice even. “I’m saying you should be careful.”

Iruka looks down at the bag in Kakashi’s palm. “I’ve never been very good at that. Too impulsive, too stubborn- maybe if I’d stayed in Konoha I would have learned to be careful. There’s a world where I did that, I bet. I became a shinobi- nothing special but not shameful either. Someone dependable. A good man with friends. A family of my own.”

“But you didn’t stay,” Kakashi finishes, being careful himself.

“But I didn’t stay,” Iruka agrees. “I’m sorry, Kakashi. I’m going to put you in an awkward position, but I can’t let those men go, not even to help Konoha. Not even if you tell me to.”

Kakashi hasn’t done that. He isn’t sure what to make of Iruka’s decision to mention him.

“Naruto told you about Sasuke, didn’t he?”

Iruka shakes his head. “Spirits can talk when they have things they need to say. If it’s important enough, even if they’re scared and restless, they can find a way to make you hear them.”

Kakashi thinks about Sasuke and his family.

“I was wrong about Suna,” Iruka continues. Anger colors his voice, making it sharp and loud. “Those spirits weren’t an abomination; they didn’t have a choice.”

Kakashi takes another slice of dried fruit and doesn’t argue.

* * *

“You’re following the spirits to their hideout, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“If you can do that, why did you have to do… what you did this morning?”

“This morning, I wasn’t simply finding Orochimaru and Kabuto,” Iruka says quietly. “I did follow the spirits to them, but I couldn’t just leave them there.”

Kakashi’s fists clench. “You pulled them away, didn’t you? How?”

“With my charm.”

“This is a bad time to make jokes.”

“It wasn’t a joke.” Iruka shakes his head, a habit he’s picked up, and touches the palm Kakashi cleaned and bandaged before they left. “Besides, I thought I might get a better idea of what they’re doing.”

“Other than making Orochimaru immortal? What did you learn?”

Iruka shrugs. “Not much. I wasn't strong enough to stay long enough to find out. I got close enough to feel his misshapen spirit, so I can say for certain that he’s there.”

“He’s killed a lot of people.” It figures Iruka would come across Orochimaru’s work. “He’s the Third’s greatest regret, I think.”

“Hiruzen…” Iruka clenches his jaw. “He’d want Konoha to forgive Orochimaru and Kabuto if they came back, wouldn’t he? At the very least, he wouldn’t want to kill them.”

Kakashi can’t honestly say Iruka’s wrong, so he says nothing.

“The Will of Fire is interesting, isn’t it? It burns the people it should protect yet leaves men like these untouched. I’m sorry,” he says, sounding stiff rather than apologetic. “I know I said I wouldn’t do this, butif Hiruzen had cared more about protecting Konoha than keeping the door to redemption open, he would have killed Orochimaru. If he wasn’t powerful enough, he and the other Sannin would have killed the third.

“Instead of fighting for the people in Konoha who had no blood on their hands, he preaches the Will of Fire- a pretty mop to clean up what he let break. I chose the better inheritance, Kakashi, and I won’t pretend otherwise.”

Kakashi doesn’t look at him. The sun is shining, the mozu’s chatter is still ringing in his ears, and he doesn’t want to die. “My life belongs to Konoha,” he tells Iruka. “My friends have died for it, and more will join them. I may join them. My students may do the same. I don’t want to think of us dying for nothing.”

Iruka bows his head; he really is too impulsive.

A bird flies across the road ahead of them, its orange belly and black wings catching the light.

“I don’t want to think we die for nothing, but the Will of Fire isn’t enough.”

Iruka doesn’t celebrate his victory. He just takes a handful of dried fruit and and holds it out for Kakashi to do the same.

* * *

It takes a week to reach Orochimaru.

They only speak when Kakashi drags Iruka out of the dazes he’s been falling into more and more often.

* * *

“You have a plan, right?” Kakashi asks. The entrance to Orochimaru’s hideout is in front of them. It’s a small, rundown house in an overgrown part of the forest.

Iruka nods without taking his eyes off the building. “I have two. The one I choose will depend on whether you’re going to help me.”

He looks like Naruto when the Nine Tails' chakra activates. Not physically- he doesn’t have the claws or the ominous red glow, and as he crouches next to Kakashi, a passerby could mistake him for any other angry man. But the way he's holding himself is the same. The posture, though... The look on his face that says he has conviction to die for what he’s come to do and the will to drag anyone in his way down with him...

Kakashi thinks about forbidden techniques and the curse mark on his student’s neck.

_You’re wrong. You would have been a terrifying shinobi._

“I’ll help you.”

Iruka’s smile doesn’t have a fox’s sharp teeth, but it has just as much promise.

* * *

Kakashi walks up to the front door and knocks.

Nothing happens, so he reaches for the handle.

The first trap activates when he touches it, but Kakashi backsteps quickly and makes a series of seals, calling up a barrier before the door can swing open wide enough for the chakra lances to be released. They collide with the wall and dissipate.

Iruka, who’d been waiting in the trees, jogs over.

“Why am I going first, again?” Kakashi asks. “Chakra doesn’t affect you as much.”

“That’s why you’re going first,” Iruka says, gesturing for Kakashi to go in first. “We’re making a point.”

Kakashi steps into the house. “And that is…?”

“That we aren’t afraid of them.”

* * *

Kakashi takes the time to avoid or disarm as many of the traps as he can. He fends off most of the traps that have to be triggered on his own, but Iruka has to intervene twice.

The first time, he simply yanks Kakashi out of the path of an arrow.

“I’m going to guess that’s not good for people,” he says, watching droplets fall off the blade and land on the floor. They leave little holes in the wood as the acid eats through it.

Kakashi winces. “Thanks for pulling me out of the way.”

Iruka nods as he backs away from the arrow. “The energy is strong enough here that you probably would have healed in a few minutes, but it would have needlessly painful.”

The second time he saves Kakashi, he steps between Kakashi and the giant snake that materialized in the giant underground room Orochimaru seems to have constructed just to house the snake.

Like the one Kakashi faced with Tenzou, this one is made of smaller snakes that fly at them.

Unlike Tenzou and Kakashi, Iruka grabs the first of the smaller snakes that comes near him, says something quietly, and hurls it at the larger snake.

It explodes on impact, and like a chain of explosives, a wave of destruction radiates out, even setting off the unattached snakes on the floor.

Iruka is breathing hard as he takes off his sword. “They’re probably in the room where they’re doing the conversion,” he says as if the room hadn’t just turned into a morbid fireworks display.

Kakashi swallows the impulse to ask if Iruka’s going to be all right.

With a sigh, Iruka pushes the sword at him. “Even if I weren’t being drained, you’re a better swordsman than I am. Things are going to get nasty in a minute, and I know you’ll use it well.”

“Iruka…”

“Sorry, but for now, I’m entrusting this to you.” Iruka smiles warmly at him. “You can give it back to me when we’re done.”

* * *

Kabuto is on his feet, crouched in front of Orochimaru and a series of tables with scrolls, when Iruka and Kakashi reach them.

The door to the wide room is lying on the floor behind Iruka and Kakashi, ripped off its hinges and cast aside by Kakashi.

He hadn’t meant to throw it that hard, but when he pulled it open, he felt a rush of strength and he’s having trouble adjusting to it.

At the far end of the room is a bubbling container filled with a black liquid that stretches from the floor to the ceiling.

It eerily like the containers Tenzou was kept in.

“Who are you?” Kabuto asks. “I recognize you, Kakashi, but who’s that behind you?”

“Never mind your name. How did you improve on our work so quickly?” Orochimaru asks. “It took us months to get this far.”

Iruka slips around Kakashi. “You shouldn’t both the dead. They tend to get angry about being disturbed, especially for vanity.”

“Yet none of them has managed to stop us.”

“Vanity is a little narrow-minded,” Kabuto adds. “The possible applications of their energy-”

Iruka lifts his chin. “I’m not asking for a rundown of your plans. They’re very impressive, I’m sure. I’m telling you to let the dead have their rest.”

Kabuto glances at Orochimaru. “I know who he is now. It took me a minute, but I remember that scar. He’s an orphan Hiruzen took a liking to after the Nine Tails' attack. He left the village to find his dead parents. It’s a bit sad, to be honest.”

Iruka twitches. “So that’s a no.”

Orochimaru regards him steadily. “It is. Unless you’ll offer yourself in their place? You’re living and dead at once. That’s very interesting.”

“That’s a no from me.”

Kabuto takes a step forward. “Then it seems you’ll have to make us stop.”

“I’m going to ask something unreasonable of you now, Kakashi,” Iruka says without looking back. “That container is reinforced. It won’t break from the inside. Please keep my body safe while I break it from the inside.”

He lunges to the side, and Kakashi whips a kunai up just in time to block Kabuto.

Orochimaru moves to follow Iruka. With his arms sealed, he’s less of a threat than he could be, but he’s still dangerous.

Kakashi pushes Kabuto back and skitters away, forming a series of seals as he does. The metal floor rings when he slams his palm into it, summoning the pack.

“Keep Orochimaru out of the way,” he tells them. “Watch out for his tongue.”

“Will do, Boss,” Pakkun says, and the dogs take off.

Kakashi’s attention returns to Kabuto as Kabuto rushes him. His hand is glowing, and Kakashi remembers what he heard about the fight between the Sannin while he was in Konoha- that hand works like a scalpel. Anywhere he touches Kakashi will become unusable.

The goal is to keep him away from Iruka, though. However long it takes, Kakashi has to keep his friend safe.

Kabuto swings at him, and as Kakashi dodges, he’s reminded again of Tenzou.

_I’m sorry you aren’t here to do this yourself, Tenzou. You’ll have to let me kill them for you._

He has to duck quickly as Kabuto swings a sharp kick at Kakashi’s belly and follows with a strike at his head. He manages, but he still hasn’t adjusted and moves too quickly. His foot goes through the floor; the only saving grace is Kakashi jerks it free with ease.

He still has to scramble to avoid Kabuto’s hand.

Of the two of them, Kakashi’s faster, but he can’t block or counter like he usually would. Even when he sees an opportunity to swipe at Kabuto with a kunai, he still has to be on the defensive.

Speed can only help so much when Kakashi has to keep moving to keep Kabuto out of his blind spot.

_Blind spot._

Kabuto isn’t a spirit. He’s a man of flesh and blood, who’s vulnerable to chakra- this isn’t a battle Kakashi has to let Iruka lead.

This is Kakashi’s fight to win.

He lands a sharp punch to Kabuto’s hip that sends him stumbling away, and Kakashi uses the break to free his Sharingan.

“I was wondering when you’d decide to fight me properly,” Kabuto says. “I’ve always been curious about transplanted eyes.”

“You should have asked properly. Maybe I would have said yes.”

“I doubt it.”

A shuriken flies out of Kabuto’s hand, aimed away from Kakshi.

Kakashi throws one of his own and manages to stop it, but it costs him. Kabuto gets close enough to swipe at him with his chakra-glowing hand, and Kakashi has to sacrifice his right hand to save his throat.

The Sharingan will be overpowered, too, Kakashi realizes. And if it’s stronger, the drain will be, too.

Already down one hand, Kakashi has to weigh the risks of using it while dodging Kabuto, who’s back on the offensive.

The saving grace of Kabuto’s style is he doesn’t have the stamina to transition between attacks relentlessly. Kakashi would slash and shift to keep up the pressure, but Kabuto has to retreat every few swings.

Even so, it’s enough to keep Kakashi on the defensive.

Dodging is exhausting, and despite his habit of retreating, Kabuto still moves too quickly for Kakashi to form enough seals for anything that could tip the battle.

He doesn’t realize what he forgot until Kabuto lands a second blow and Kakashi’s knee gives out. He hits the ground hard, and behind him, something metal scrapes across the floor.

“I expected more from you than this, Kakashi-san,” Kabuto tells him. “Try to stay here, please. Your spirit could be more useful than an average civilian’s.”

A member of the pack growls, and Kakashi quickly orders, “Stay with Orochimaru!”

“That’s wise but meaningless.”

Kakashi shakes his head. “You don’t know that.”

Breathing hard, Kabuto steps up to Kakashi and raises his hand. “I’ll be quick.”

He brings it down quickly, but Kakashi’s quicker. He leans forward and yanks the sword from its sheath with his left hand. It doesn’t come free, but he feels it when Kabuto’s hand sinks into the blade.

A ripple goes through Kabuto’s body, and Kakashi has to fight the reflex to vomit as he finds out what happens when the sword touches flesh.

Kabuto’s body implodes with a wet sound.

Orochimaru shouts something, but when Kakashi looks up from the grizzly mess on the floor that used to be Kabuto, the pack still has him immobilized, two of them with their teeth sunk into his tongue.

Kakashi drags a deep breath in and turns to check on Iruka.

He’s barely managed to take in the blood pouring down Iruka’s face when the container explodes and a familiar bloodcurdling scream erupts.

It’s followed by chorus of wails so loud Kakashi almost misses the sound of soft rain as his vision goes back and he drops to the floor.

* * *

“Kakashi-san? Can you hear me?”

Kakashi blinks weakly, and slowly, the world above him comes into focus. A woman he doesn’t recognize is standing over him. Her expression is soft, but the hand she holds out to him is callused.

He takes it without thinking and lets himself be levered upright. He expects it to hurt, but the pain doesn’t come.

And, he notices, he used his right hand.

“That was a nasty technique,” the woman says. “Don’t worry, though. We put you back together. Being that close to so much energy being released will make you sick for a while, though.”

She smiles, and suddenly she isn’t unfamiliar anymore.

“You already figured out who I am, didn’t you?” she asks.

Kakashi nods. “But… aren’t you dead?”

“I am!”

“We are, yes,” says a voice beyond the woman.

Kakashi traces the sound to a man kneeling on broken glass in the far corner. His face is scrunched with sorrow, but his features are so familiar, Kakashi can’t help but stare at him.

This man could easily be Iruka in ten years.

Iruka himself is sitting on the floor next to his father, pale and drawn but propped up against the wall like Kakashi as he stares wordlessly at his father.

“We can’t usually return,” Iruka’s mother explains, drawing Kakashi’s attention back to her. “But this is an unusual circumstance.”

“He died, didn’t he?” Kakashi asks.

Iruka’s mother looks over at Iruka, and her eyes soften. “He really does look just like his father, doesn’t he?”

Kakashi nods. “He does.”

“He always did, even when he was little. To be honest, I was a little disappointed at first. I wanted people to see him and know he was mine! But he does have my smile. And my temper,” she adds with a rueful laugh. “That’s how I knew he wouldn’t stay in Konoha. Even if he hadn’t grown so angry, he was too attached to us to stay somewhere he couldn’t stop being reminded of us. His father and I should have put more distance between us when we saw that, but we just couldn’t push him away. He’d make that miserable face his father would give me, and we’d give in. He’s just too cute!”

She glances back at her husband and son, and Kakashi thinks of his own mother, a woman who’s always been more of an absence than a person. Did she talk about him like Iruka’s mother talks about him?

“The world should be glad that Iruka is so attached to you,” he rasps. “He’s a credit to you.”

“He is!” she agrees with another of Iruka’s blinding smiles. “As you are to your parents. It was an honor to meet Konoha’s White Fang and his wife, you know. And they’re so proud of you, Kakashi-san.”

Kakashi nods again, his throat too dry to reply.

Iruka’s mother must understand because she pats his shoulder. “You’re right that Iruka died, but no, we didn’t bring him back. It was determined by greater people than us that he has to remain in this world. There are still so many spirits that need to be shepherded home, and our son is their best hope.” She looks back at Iruka for a moment, her eyes shining, before she blinks and returns her eyes to Kakashi. “It’s bittersweet, isn’t it? Our son is such a good man we have to lose him a second time.”

Her voice catches in her throat, and Kakashi’s stomach sinks.

“I’m sorry.”

It’s a pitiful thing to say, too small and weak in the face of a parent’s grief.

“Don’t be. He’s well cared for here, and when he does come back to us, we’ll have eternity to bother him like we meant to. Oh!”

The grief disappears, replaced by a look of triumph, and Kakashi thinks to himself that Iruka inherited more than his smile and his temper from his mother.

“I have a message for you from your mother, Kakashi-san.”

“My mother?”

Iruka’s mother nods. Her expression doesn’t waver as she squats down beside him and kisses his forehead.

Kakashi closes his eye against the threatening prickle of tears as she adds, “‘Live a long, happy life. Don’t come to us too quickly!’”

He nods, still unable to look, and she ruffles his hair.

“I have to go say goodbye to my son, but I’m glad I got to meet you, Kakashi-san. Next time, you’ll be in our world, so be sure to say hello! Although, you’ll probably come with Iruka, so it won’t be too hard.”

Drawing a deep breath, Kakashi makes himself open his eye to look at Iruka’s mother properly. “I will. Thank you.”

“We’re the ones who want to thank you- our son is a stubborn man, but you’ve looked after him well.” She smiles at him one last time before she says, “You’re going to pass out in a minute or so, but don’t worry. People from Konoha are on their way. It seems that priest Iruka left with them noticed something was happening.”

She straightens up and trots over to Iruka, whose eyes are already overflowing with tears. He’s doing a terrible job of hiding them.

His father is doing even worse.

“You helped so many people, Iruka,” he says thickly. He wipes at his eyes with his sleeve, but new tears spring up. “They found us, and they told us you’d grown into a good man. That’s the greatest praise a parent could get.”

“You’re a good son, Umino Iruka,” Iruka’s mother continues gently. She kneels down on the other side of Iruka. “But you need to learn to let go sometimes! We were at peace with our deaths. Your unhappiness kept us from resting.”

Iruka’s father nods. “You’re a good son, Iruka, but you’ve carried your fear for us on your shoulders for too long. It’s time for you to find your own happiness.”

“Don’t try to make him feel better when I’m guilting him!” Iruka’s mother scolds. “And you forgot to tell him not to fight falling in love so hard!”

“He isn’t fighting love! He’s just ignoring it! If he stops worrying about us, then he’ll let it come!”

Iruka’s wet sob is the last thing Kakashi hears before his vision goes dark, as promised.

* * *

“So,” Kakashi tells the ceiling. “Those were your parents, huh?”

Iruka makes a noise Kakashi is charitably going to call a laugh. “Yeah.”

”You learned to be like this from them. You must have.”

“Like what? Stubborn?”

“Loud.”

Iruka laughs so loudly it echoes through the room.

* * *

“We should get up,” Iruka says.

Kakashi nods.

* * *

“You aren’t getting up,” Iruka says.

“Neither are you,” Kakashi points out.

“I’m tired!”

“And I’m not?”

“No?”

Kakashi sighs.

* * *

Iruka groans. “I want to get up, but if I try, I’ll throw up.”

One admission deserves one in return. “Me, too.”

* * *

Kakashi is on his feet, trying to convince his stomach he doesn’t want to vomit, when he feels three chakra signatures approaching.

Guy. Kurenai. Asuma.

Guy is closer than the other two and approaching faster.

Kakashi doesn’t shake his head. That would prove his stomach right.

“Can you move?” he asks.

Iruka, who’s been watching Kakashi struggle to stand with a look that says he’s half hoping Kakashi will fall over, squints at him. “How important is it for me to say yes?”

“How much do you want to avoid Guy carrying you?”

* * *

By the time Guy reaches them, Kakashi and Iruka have gotten to their feet. They’re both sweating and leaning against the walls, but they’re upright. That’s more than most people could manage.

It’s definitely enough to prove they don’t need to be carried.

Guy takes one look at the room and asks, “Kakashi, what are you standing in?”

Kakashi looks down. “Oh, no.”

“That, Guy-san,” Iruka explains evenly, “is Kabuto.”

“That’s Orochimaru,” Kakashi adds, pointing to a similar situation in the middle of the room.

“ _Was_ Orochimaru, surely,” Guy corrects with a look of such distaste Kakashi can’t stop himself from laughing.

He regrets it the moment the world moves too quickly.

* * *

Kurenai and Asuma sigh in unison as Guy meets them in one of the underground corridors.

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Kurenai asks tentatively.

Guy straightens, shifting the pressure his shoulder has been applying to Kakashi’s belly to another, more tender part of his belly. “What?”

Asuma shakes his head. “You’re going to make them throw up, Guy. Give me the not-priest.”

Guy hands Iruka over, and Asuma slips him into a much kinder piggyback position.

Kakashi looks at Kurenai hopefully.

She looks at him with pity. “Sorry, Kakashi, but the only man I carry these days is Asuma.”

“What?” Kakashi and Guy chorus.

Asuma sighs. “I was drunk, and it only happened once.”

“The point stands. Besides, Guy is perfectly capable of carrying you, Kakashi.”

Kurenai pats Asuma’s arm as he passes her, and Kakashi watches from his horrible perch as Asuma’s face turns pink.

“They’re so in love,” Guy sighs. “It’s nice, isn’t it, Kakashi?”

Asuma walks past them quickly, but Kakashi watches him duck his head.

Iruka doesn’t say anything as the group falls into line.

Kakashi watches him curiously over Kurenai’s shoulder. _If he stops worrying about his parents, he’ll find love, huh?_

* * *

The trip back to Konoha takes almost two weeks. Iruka recovers first, which is odd but not as odd as Iruka carrying Kakashi for two days.

“Isn’t this supposed to be the other way around?” Kakashi asks.

“You just liked being the one doing the carrying,” Asuma drawls. “It was a nice change of pace, I bet.”

“Do people carry you often?” Iruka asks.

“I wouldn’t say “often”. Using the Sharingan can be really tiring, you know?”

“I don’t, but I’ll take your word for it.”

Guy overhears them, and Kakashi spends the next half hour with his chin on Iruka’s shoulder, pretending not to notice how much fun Guy is having as he provides Iruka with descriptions of the times he’s had to carry Kakashi. Iruka laughs openly a few times, and despite his exhaustion, Kakashi doesn’t mind.

The soothing brush of Iruka’s thumb over Kakashi’s knee probably has something to do with that.

* * *

Kakashi is grateful to be walking on his own when they reach Konoha, not least because of who’s waiting for them at the gate.

Naruto is obviously under strict threat not to leave the village under pain of a creative consequence. Kakashi snorts at the way Naruto waves wildly at them, pacing impatiently and shouting at them to hurry up as the group approaches.

“How does he always have so much energy?” Kurenai asks wearily. “I thought Kiba had trouble sitting still, but Naruto has been bouncing around the village for weeks.”

“That’s the power of youth, Kurenai,” Iruka says before Guy can.

The two of them high five, and Iruka grins at Kakashi.

“Or he got into the Fifth’s experimental soldier pills again,” Asuma suggests.

Kakashi shakes his head. This is just Naruto. He’s always got the strength to be friendly.

He turns to say as much to Iruka, but Iruka is already a few steps ahead, blatantly power walking to the gate.

“You really should just run,” Kakashi sighs. “This is way more undignified.”

Iruka speeds up but doesn’t break into a run. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Rather than try to explain that Iruka running to him would probably make Naruto happy, Kakashi resigns himself being the adult. Iruka only has eyes for Naruto, who’s started yelling at them to hurry up, so he doesn’t struggle when Kakashi grabs the collar of his kimono and body flickers them to the gate.

“Kakashi! Why would you-”

“Sensei!”

Naruto throws himself at Iruka with a cry of delight, and Iruka coughs as he catches Naruto. He forgets Kakashi entirely as he returns Naruto’s hug, the two of them swaying in place as Naruto asks Iruka every question he has at once and Iruka tries to frown and tell him not to ask so many questions but undercuts himself by giving in.

 _They’re too similar,_ Kakashi thinks wryly at the excited chatter.

“The Fifth wants to speak to you, Kakashi-san,” one of the guards says. He ignores the scene Iruka and Naruto are making with practiced ease. “She’s in the tower.”

_That’s probably a bad sign._

* * *

“So Orochimaru is dead,” Tsunade says when Kakashi finishes his report.

Kakashi nods. He’s been wondering how this would go since he woke up the second time after Iruka freed the spirits.

“Yes, Hokage-sama. I meant to bring him back alive, but that was impossible.”

“I appreciate the thought, but it’s better this way. He was dangerous, and the decision of what to do with him would have taken ages and divided us.”

Kakashi inclines his head. “Can I do anything else for you?”

Tsunade waves him away. “Just keep this to yourself for now and remind the others to do the same. I need to tell Hiruzen and Jiraiya before we announce this to the village. Team 7 as well, I think.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And don’t try to sneak out, Kakashi. You and that man need to rest. I’ll send your team after you if you don’t stay and recover.”

* * *

Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, and Iruka are waiting for him outside the tower when Kakashi comes out. Iruka is holding a plate in the air with one hand and fending off Naruto’s flailing hands with the other while Sakura and Sasuke roll their eyes and pretend not to be interested.

“Dango?” Kakashi asks, recognizing the shape and colors on the plate.

“It was my treat,” Iruka says, pinning Naruto with a firm look. “Everybody says your team has been working hard in your absence, so I thought they deserved a reward.”

“You didn’t have to save both for Kakashi-sensei,” Naruto grumbles. He makes another grab for the plate, which Iruka foils by batting his hand away with one of his own. “Iruka-sensei! Please! I’m hungry!”

“Why are you complaining? You had three because I bought you an extra one and gave you mine.”

“But I’m a growing boy! I need nutrition!”

“Oh, so if I offered to buy you vegetable stir fry, you’d eat that?” Iruka counters. “Since vegetables are so nutritious?”

Naruto hesitates, eyes calculating, before he nods. “I would!”

“Great! Then Kakashi will get the dango I bought for him, and you can have stir fry with me.”

Sasuke doesn’t quite manage to stifle a snort, and Sakura outright laughs as Naruto whips around to chastise them at volume.

 _Definitely_ _too similar,_ Kakashi thinks, glancing over at Iruka, who’s watching Naruto fondly.

Kakashi sighs. “Naruto… You should have seen that coming. You’re a ninja, you know?”

Iruka ruffles Naruto’s hair as he hands Kakashi the plate, ignoring Naruto’s protests. What used to be a simple action takes another, sadder shape in Kakashi’s mind as he feels the phantom touch of Iruka’s mother’s hand on his own head.

“Come on, Naruto. You can tell me more about beating Sasuke over dinner.”

“He didn’t beat me,” Sasuke argues. “He pulled my pants down!”

“At least it wasn’t another kiss, though,” a passing ninja calls. Kakashi recognizes him as Shikaku’s son; the boy inherited his father’s face and unfortunate hairline.

Next to him are the other members of the Ino-Shika-Cho triumvirate, all uncannily similar to their fathers. They laugh at the joke, which makes all three of Kakashi’s genin stutter arguments.

“Never mind that, Iruka-sensei!” Naruto says quickly. “It’s not like I’d kiss that weirdo on purpose.”

“But you did kiss him?” Iruka asks. He looks at Team 7 with growing confusion, and Kakashi realizes he’s probably the only person in Konoha who hasn’t heard about the unfortunate slip up at the Academy.

“It wasn’t a kiss!” Sasuke and Naruto correct in tandem, both flustered.

Sakura nods along, but, Kakashi notes with interest, she doesn’t look offended for Sasuke like she did before Kakashi left. Her denial is the least loud, and unlike the boys, she exchanges amused looks with Inoichi’s daughter as the other team passes.

“That’s right! Forget about Shikamaru! He’s dumb!” Cheeks puffing out, Naruto grabs Iruka’s arm and tows him away. “Let’s go eat, Sensei! Your treat!”

Iruka pretends to object but doesn’t actually resist.

Kakashi almost misses Naruto’s expression as his student looks over his shoulder and looks at him smugly.

“That’s what he wanted all along,” Sakura says slowly. “I can’t believe Naruto managed to be that underhanded.”

“It looks like he’s finally figured out that he can actually be kind of smart outside of fights,” Sasuke says, sounding reluctantly fond. “I bet it was dumb luck, though. There’s no way he thought that far ahead.”

Kakashi watches Naruto dance around Iruka and wonders about that.

* * *

Despite Naruto’s absence, or maybe because of it, Kakashi catches up with his team quickly. Sakura is building up enough strength to rival Tsunade, and unlike Tsunade, who uses her power to intimidate and crush as needed up close, she’s been training with Guy and becoming a force of destruction in hand-to-hand combat.

“I sent Sasuke flying last week,” she says proudly. She doesn’t check Sasuke’s face for approval.

“After wearing me down for an hour, so I had to walk most of the way back from the forest,” Sasuke adds. He looks sour, but he’d been nodding along as Sakura spoke. “Tsunade makes me fight her.”

“Sasuke’s chakra is really strong, though, Sensei! He could probably hit you hard enough to steal a bell now.”

“ _We_ definitely could,” Sasuke says. He looks at Kakashi levelly. “Naruto’s even more distracting, so if he helped, we could get both.”

 _He gets it,_ Kakashi thinks in relief. _Even if he’s pretending he doesn’t, he understands why he’s better with a team._

“More distracting, huh?” Kakashi asks. “That’s a high bar, Sasuke.”

Sakura shakes her head. “Shizune had to pay for us to visit an onsen because she bet we couldn’t steal a senbon from Genma. Naruto did most of the work.”

“You three really have been working hard while I’ve been gone. I’m glad!”

“I’m supposed to surpass you, aren't I?” Sasuke asks. He, too, looks happier. There’s a challenge in his words, but he doesn’t look interested in actually fighting right now.

“You are,” Kakashi agrees. He’s missed so much of their growth, butthey still have a long way to go.

_Did you feel like this with us, Minato-sensei? Did you see Obito, Rin, and me growing stronger and feel so happy it felt like your heart would break?_

“What about you, Sensei?” Sakura asks. “What’s traveling with Iruka-san like?”

The joy in Kakashi’s chest stutters.

“Well, I’ve been learning a lot, too,” Kakashi says, measuring his answer. “It’s good that Iruka knows so much. He’s good at explaining, too.”

Both genin exchange looks, then look back at Kakashi in unison.

Kakashi instinctively doesn’t like it. “What?”

“You’re very close to him, aren't you, Sensei?” Sasuke asks.

“We spend a lot of time together. That’s bound to happen, isn’t it, Sasuke?”

The deflection doesn’t work. Instead, Sasuke leans farther forward. “Could it be…”

“Did you make a friend, Sensei?” Sakura asks.

She and Sasuke smirk at him, and Kakashi stares at them for too long, torn between horror that they think he doesn’t have any friends and relief that they’re still young enough that they think of friendship before romance.

_They really are still children. I haven’t missed everything._

“You got me,” he admits. “Iruka and I are friends.”

Two heads bob in unison.

“That’s good!” Sakura says indulgently, as if Kakashi were the child.

He doesn’t feel any need to correct her.

* * *

Kakashi has returned to his apartment and taken a long overdue bath when the visitor he’s been expecting shows up.

“Thanks for waiting until I got dressed,” he says as he opens the door to his bedroom. “Or did Shiba stop you?”

“Shiba stopped him,” Pakkun reports from Kakashi’s bed.

“So he did.” Kakashi shakes his head. “Thank you, Shiba. You can let go of him now.”

Freed, Naruto straightens his clothes with an unmerited look of indignation. He turns toward Kakashi’s bed, inviting himself to sit down, but Kakashi catches him by the collar.

“Did you use up all your manners with Iruka?”

“Maybe…”

Kakashi sighs and reluctantly releases Naruto. “You aren’t welcome to use my bed.”

“Who says I was going to?”

Kakashi points at the bit of sauce on Naruto’s cheek. “You’ve been eating, Naruto. Don’t pretend you don’t want to take a nap.”

Caught again, Naruto purses his lips and hunches his shoulders.

Sighing, Kakashi perches on the edge of his bed and pats the spot next to him. “Don’t get any ideas about napping here,” he warns. “I just don’t want you to pass out and bleed on my floor.”

Naruto ignores him and flops down gracelessly. He makes himself comfortable, sighing noisily as he does.

“Iruka has to sleep, so you came to bother me, huh?” Kakashi asks.

“What? No, I missed you, too.” Naruto frowns at him. “I just figured, since Iruka-sensei doesn’t really know Sakura and Sasuke, I could leave you with them for a while.”

 _He’s as_ _blunt as_ _ever,_ Kakashi thinks.

Naruto grins at him. “See? I’m just as smart as Sasuke.”

“I don’t know if I’d go that far.”

“Don’t be mean!”

“I’m not. Sasuke’s a genius. You don’t have to be one to be worthwhile, too.”

The time apart must have dulled Kakashi’s memory of just how different Naruto looks when he’s happy. Kakashi doesn’t remember feeling so overwhelmed by it.

“What?” he asks, prodding Naruto’s shin. “You're my student. Did you think I disliked you?”

“No, but you’ve never actually said you think I’m a good shinobi.” Surprise gives way to joy. “Maybe it wasn’t so bad that you left with Iruka-sensei!”

That can’t be right, but as he searches his memory, Kakashi can’t think of many times he actively praised Naruto.

Naruto’s simple happiness at being recognized hurts far more than a grudge would. A grudge would be understandable; it would be earned.

Kakashi did nothing to deserve Naruto’s easy love.

 _I failed you, didn’t I?_ _I’m your teacher, but I didn’t give you the one thing you needed most._

“Well, I guess it wasn’t. Helping people outside the village was good, too, though,” Kakashi points out. He should apologize, but Naruto wouldn’t know what to do with it. He’d probably think he failed somehow. “Did you have a good time with him?”

“Yeah! He blessed me before he went home, which was weird, but he always does that. And he said you guys met Gaara! He didn’t try to hurt you, right?”

Naruto has a hundred questions, all of them already answered by Iruka, but Kakashi answers them all again. He’s missed the tornado of excitement that forms the most basic part of Naruto.

Konoha is lucky to have him. Not for the Nine Tails whose power he can use, for Naruto himself.

“You’re looking after him, right?” Naruto asks, breaking through Kakashi’s thoughts.

“After who? Iruka?”

“Of course!”

“Unlike some of us, I’m a good ninja _and_ I do all my work, so yes.”

_As well as he lets me._

“And you aren’t reading those weird books?”

“I’m not reading while I walk around in a world of enemies I can’t fight, Naruto- Icha Icha or otherwise.”

“Good!” Apparently satisfied, Naruto beams at him.

Kakashi doesn’t let himself be tricked.

“What did I tell you, Naruto? No napping here, Naruto.”

“But you have a really nice bed! And you’re a good teacher, so you wouldn’t mind sleeping on the futon so your best student gets a good night’s sleep on a nice bed…”

“Absolutely not! If you like it so much, go buy one.”

Naruto’s expression falls, and Kakashi resists the urge to kick himself.

“Fine. You can have twenty minutes to nap- on the futon. After that, we’re getting you a new bed.”

“Really?”

Kakashi wishes he lived in a world where he could say no and not be a monster. His feet hurt, and he hasn’t had a good night’s rest in far too long.

“Yes, really. Now get off my bed. I have to get dressed.”

Naruto looks ready to hug him, and Kakashi lets him. It’s odd, but it’s nice. Some of that joy Naruto always carries has its own resonance; Kakashi can feel it.

When the hug ends, Kakashi points at the door. “Go take your nap, Naruto.”

“Yes, Sensei!” Naruto says brightly, skipping out of Kakashi’s room.

* * *

Somehow, finding Naruto a bed becomes a team effort. Kakashi gladly steps aside so Sakura, Sasuke, and a group of Naruto’s other friends can provide input.

Shikaku’s son is asleep on an expensive bed two beds down from the one Kakashi’s occupying. The boy looks almost comatose, and Kakashi wonders at how different children can be from their parents.

And, he thinks as Naruto and the Inuzuka boy debate the merits of the latest two beds they’ve tried, how similar they can be.

He isn’t entirely surprised when Iruka pops up next to him.

“This is nice of you.”

“I should have done it earlier.”

“Someone should have, yeah. But you’re doing it now, and he isn’t taking it as pity- he’s having fun.” Iruka quirks a brow at him. “That counts for something.”

Kakashi clears his throat. “Tsunade wants us to stay.”

“I figured as much.”

“Are you okay with that?”

Iruka shrugs. “Konoha isn’t home, but it’s a good place to recover in.”

“Are you recovering?”

“Am I okay with losing my parents a second time, you mean?” Iruka leans his hip against a bed. “No, but I’m glad I got to see them. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to come back and see Naruto again. I never wanted to die, Kakashi. I wanted them to be happy. That’s all.”

Iruka has a happy glow, and Kakashi nods. He knows Iruka didn’t want to die- would have died, yes, but he didn’t want to join his parents in death.

“Another teacher wouldn’t love him like you do,” Iruka says, changing the subject and saving Kakashi. “I’m glad the Third assigned him to you.”

“I’m glad he did, too.”

They don’t bring up Hiruzen’s other, less successful choices.

A shout goes up, and Kakashi looks over at Naruto’s group, which has congregated around a bed Naruto had been pleased with earlier.

“I think we have a winner.”

“I think you’re right.” Iruka pats Kakashi’s shoulder. “I was going to do this for him, but I would have had to put a limit on what he could buy. Thank you.”

Kakashi shrugs, but the praise makes his face heat. “I don’t have many things to spend money on. There’s no reason not to let him have nice things.”

The smile Iruka gives him says he knows Kakashi’s minimizing. “One good turn deserves another. I’ll help you get the bed set up.”

Inwardly, Kakashi sighs in relief. He hates assembling furniture, and Naruto’s enthusiasm, adorable as it is, can be a hindrance.

“You’re a good man, Iruka.”

“Well, I’m not doing it for free. You’ll owe me a drink after we finish.”

Kakashi would pay a far higher price than that.

* * *

As promised, Iruka does help put Naruto’s bed together.

He would argue that sentence would be more accurate without “help”, but Kakashi did take everything out of the box for him.

* * *

They’re drinking in Kakashi’s apartment- a cheap man’s approach to buying drinks, according to Iruka, but it’s probably for the best that they’re in Kakashi’s apartment rather than outside.

Iruka lifts a hand slowly and pulls down Kakashi’s mask. They’ve only had a little to drink, but it’s enough to be doing things they usually wouldn’t.

“I knew it,” Iruka says, gently pushing Kakashi’s face away. “You’re handsome.”

Kakashi blinks at him. “You think I’m handsome?”

“Of course I do.” Iruka refills Kakashi’s cup and sets the bottle back on the floor between them. “The beauty mark is cute.”

Kakashi picks the bottle up. “You really are very straightforward sometimes.”

“Only sometimes?”

“Other times, you’re so formal, I can’t read you at all.”

“We can’t all be perfect,” Iruka says brightly. He sets his cup down and pointedly nudges it toward Kakashi.

“I can’t tell if you’re talking about me or yourself,” Kakashi tells him.

“Why can’t I be talking about us both?”

Kakashi nods and refills Iruka’s cup.

* * *

Kakashi is definitely the one who leans in first.

They still aren’t drunk enough for Kakashi to pass it off as anything but Kakashi looking at him and wanting to kiss him.

* * *

Kakashi leans in, but Iruka meets him in the middle.

* * *

Iruka corners Kakashi in the kitchen when he gets up to grab them something to eat, and they still aren’t drunk enough to pretend Kakashi lets him for any reason other than wanting to be trapped against the wall by him.

* * *

They’re the same height, but Iruka’s broader. It wouldn’t give him much of an edge in a fight, but here, it makes Kakashi’s breath catch. Iruka presses Kakashi back against the wall slowly, and maybe Kakashi should be jealous of the people Iruka learned to be careful like this with, but he can’t think of a single reason why he should be. Those people aren’t here. It’s just Iruka and Kakashi and Iruka purposefully not moving too quickly.

Kakashi’s happy not to have to acknowledge out loud that he’s always a weapon. Iruka knows he needs to be careful, and there’s no joking to cover up that fact or mistaking it for melodrama.

If they get hurt, it will be for other reasons.

* * *

Iruka’s hair is soft, just like Kakashi had thought it would be, and he sighs when Kakashi runs his fingers through it.

They haven’t moved away from the wall. Iruka is leaning against him at an angle, one hand on Kakashi’s shoulder and one hand on his waist, under his clothes. His head is lying on his hand on Kakashi’s shoulder. Any time Kakashi turns his head, which he keeps doing, Iruka kisses him, which only encourages him.

When he does’t, Iruka kisses his neck.

It would be nice, Kakashi thinks, to sleep with Iruka.

* * *

Sometimes, when they slept in towns and had their own baths, Kakashi would take a little longer in his. Iruka’s handsome and kind and determined, and it’s difficult not to want someone like that.

Impossible not to want Iruka, in Kakashi’s case.

Without any reason not to, Kakashi would let himself think about kissing Iruka. He’d think about Iruka being happy to be kissed and pulling Kakashi closer for another.

He’d think about Iruka’s confident hands.

His wide shoulders that bump Kakashi’s companionably.

His soft lips.

His voice, ordering Kakashi here and there.

His voice, asking Kakashi to trust him.

Kakashi would keep his own voice quiet as the bath water cooled, and he’d think about taking Iruka’s kimono off. He’d imagine feeling warm again with his hands on Iruka’s hips and his face between Iruka’s thighs.

He’d come and think of Iruka doing the same.

* * *

Iruka laughs when Kakashi follows him into Kakashi’s bedroom, but it’s soft and breathy.

“Sorry, Kakashi,” he says as he catches the edges of Kakashi’s flak jacket. He doesn’t look sorry at all. “Did you want me to stay in the other room?”

Kakashi walks him backwards to the edge of the bed and watches him drop backwards onto it.

Finally shorter, Iruka looks up and smiles.

“I didn’t,” Kakashi promises.

* * *

Kakashi uncaps the bottle he keeps in the hidden compartment in his bed frame.

“That should be funny,” Iruka tells him. He shouldn’t be making threats when his legs are open wide on Kakashi’s bed, his kimono open and everything else gone. “I’m going to laugh at you about that later.”

“Later, though,” Kakashi reminds him. His own clothes are on the floor in a messy heap. He’s a tidy person, but he’s spent too much time with an impulsive person to remember how to be careful now.

“Later,” Iruka agrees.

* * *

Kakashi’s going to get hurt by this.

Iruka is holding Kakashi’s head close with a hand in his hair. It’s a good hold, firm and confident because Iruka wants him close, but it’s unnecessary. Kakashi can’t think of any reason he’d want to stop being close enough for Iruka to kiss him.

Tilting his head, Kakashi kisses Iruka’s jaw and strokes him gently.

Iruka groans. “Kakashi.”

“Yeah? Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong. I was just saying your name.” Iruka strokes Kakashi’s hair. “I like that you’re here.”

Kakashi wanted this to be disappointing. If it weren’t good, he wouldn’t want it again.

But Iruka keeps saying this is good and breathing Kakashi’s name against his skin, and he’s on his back in Kakashi’s bed, but he said something about next time, and Kakashi wants a next time so desperately he has to kiss Iruka to keep him from saying something else that will make it hurt even more when next time doesn’t come and Kakashi is left with empty promises he can hear in Iruka’s voice.

They aren’t drunk, and this is what they want, but you can want two things at once.

Iruka is fiercely independent. He won’t stay in Konoha. He won’t let himself love Kakashi.

Maybe he’ll want this again, though. Maybe he’ll visit.

Maybe Kakashi can store up enough memories of him that letting go won’t hurt so much eventually.

* * *

Kakashi holds Iruka’s legs apart with his palms on Iruka’s thighs, and Iruka’s hand shoots down to take himself in hand.

“What?” he asks, expression challenging, when Kakashi stops and peers up at him.

He strokes himself just like Kakashi had been, his hand moving slowly.

“The bottle is-”

Iruka tugs Kakashi’s head down where it was earlier. “I‘m going to come,” he breathes. “I’m so close, but you haven’t fucked me the way you want to yet. I’m getting what I want, but I know you aren’t getting what you want.”

“That’s-”

“What’s wrong?”

Nothing. Right now, nothing is wrong.

But something will be soon.

Kakashi can’t travel with him forever, and when Konoha calls him back, Kakashi won’t fight it. Konoha is his home. This is where his life is.

Iruka doesn’t want a home. He’s going to leave Kakashi behind, and having a little bit of something is worse than having none.

It feels like someone punched him in the gut, but Iruka’s hands are on Kakashi’s face.

“I’m fine!” Kakashi promises, taking the little bit he’s offered. “Just, you know, being careful.”

He gets a kiss for it, and Kakashi’s heart pounds in his throat.

* * *

Iruka can't keep quiet.

Kakashi can’t make himself want him to be.

* * *

Iruka is still in Kakashi’s house the next morning.

“I really can’t cook,” he says miserably from the kitchen table. “We got all those supplies at shrines because everybody out there knows how bad I am at anything more complex than sandwiches.”

Kakashi blinks at him. He’d thought Iruka would be long gone, but he should have known better. “If you find cups and plates, I’ll cook.”

Gratitude shines in Iruka’s eyes, and he gets to his feet as Kakashi walks to the fridge.

There, he remembers where he’s been for the last… months? Year?

“I don’t have any food,” he admits. “I didn’t know how long I’d be away, so I threw it all away before I left. I haven’t had time to buy groceries again.”

Iruka sighs with his head in a cabinet. “That makes sense.”

“I can get us something, if you want.”

Kakashi tries not to sound too hopeful. He would tell Iruka to come along, but Iruka looks too inviting. He’s mussed and happy. He’s a man whose hand Kakashi wants to hold.

Leaning back so he can peek around the cabinet door, Iruka nods quickly. “My hero. Get whatever you want, but get a lot of it; I’ll pay you back.”

He flops onto the cushion by the kotatsu, and Kakashi makes himself leave to go get breakfast.

* * *

“Did you get one of everything?” Iruka asks as he watches Kakashi unload his armful of potential breakfasts onto the table.

“No.”

He didn’t get the things he knows Iruka doesn’t like.

Iruka pads over and sits at the table. “You should sit, too, you know. Or I’ll eat all your food.”

“It’s fine. It’s for you anyway.”

Kakashi doesn’t flinch, but Iruka looks at him like he did.

“I think we should talk.”

“What if we didn’t?” Kakashi suggests quickly.

“If you really don’t want to… I guess we won’t. That’s all we need to say anyway.” Iruka rubs the back of his neck and looks away from Kakashi. “I don’t know how long I’ll be staying this time. The Fifth and I already spoke, and we agreed that my arrangement with Hiruzen was fulfilled on both ends, so I’ll be heading out on my own when the time comes.”

He hasn’t touched his food.

Not talking was supposed to be easier, but easy things aren’t always the right ones. Kakashi knows that. Every genin and every Academy student knows that.

“I changed my mind,” Kakashi says. He swallows hard. “Let’s talk.”

“Don’t play games with me, please,” Iruka snaps, suddenly formal. His eyes meet Kakashi’s, and there’s real anger there.

“I’m not playing.” Kakashi hears himself laugh nervously and cringes. He looks down at his hands where they’re resting on the table. “I don’t want to get hurt anymore. My heart breaks into all these little pieces, and it takes a long time to put it back together, and even when I do, it still hurts.” He thinks of Rin and Obito and Minato and all the other friends who’ve left him behind. He’s done a lot of rebuilding, but he’ll never be who he was. “I think I’m still missing a few pieces, actually.”

Iruka lays one of his hands over Kakashi’s. “You think I’m going to break your heart?”

“You’re going to leave, aren’t you?” Kakashi makes himself meet Iruka’s eyes. “What else would happen?”

“If I stayed, you’d leave on missions, wouldn’t you?” Iruka counters. Kakashi nods reluctantly, and Iruka twines their fingers together. “The question isn’t whether we leave- eventually, someone always has to; that’s the nature of being separate people. The question is what we want when we return.”

Kakashi squeezes his hand, and Iruka squeezes back.

“Personally,” Iruka says, “I’m kind of lonely. I’d like to have a home and loved ones to miss when I’m away. When I’m away from them, I’d like to think of my home and know there are people waiting for me to come back to them.”

A joke about Naruto not being enough dies on Kakashi’s tongue.

“If I’m honest, I suppose I’m lonely, too,” he admits. “Sometimes it feels like the only proof I was here is a stack of mission reports. Having a team reminds me that when I get home, I’m alone again. I hate how quiet it is. I come back from missions because Konoha needs me, but it would be nice if I didn’t come back to silence.” He runs his thumb over Iruka’s knuckles. “All that quiet gets too loud, and there’s never anybody who wants to break it for me.”

Iruka smiles, and even though it’s small, it makes Kakashi’s heart race.

“You know,” he says, “I’m a pretty noisy person.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I’m not very patient, but if you don’t mind, I could wait for you at the gate.”

“And wave at me like Naruto?”

“Exactly like Naruto.”

“That’s so embarrassing,” Kakashi tells him. “You’re an adult, Iruka. You should just come get me if you’re going to do that.”

“Maybe I will. Maybe I’ll miss you so much, I’ll go out and bring you back home myself.”

Kakashi’s heart pounds in his ears. “That wouldn’t be bad. So long as it didn’t affect the mission.”

“I think I could handle that.” Letting go of Kakashi’s hand, Iruka takes Kakashi’s face in his hands. “Your heart is safe with me.”

Kakashi closes his eyes and breathes out shakily. “I’ll leave it in your care, then.”

“Thank you.” Iruka kisses him softly over Kakashi’s mask. “In return, I’ll be leaving mine with you.”

Opening his eyes, Kakashi faces the brightness of Iruka’s smile.

_Did I make him this happy?_

“Be sure to check on it often,” he says. “I can’t be sure I’m looking after it correctly if you stay away for too long.”

Iruka slips Kakashi’s mask down, but his eyes don’t leave Kakashi’s. “I’ll come home to you as often as I can. After all, you hate the silence, don’t you? I can’t be loud when I’m not home.”

Kakashi nods, and when he leans in this time, he does it without thinking of getting hurt.


	2. Epilogue

Iruka is eating Kakashi’s ice cream.

“Welcome home,” he says cheerfully. “Did your mission go well?”

Kakashi sits down on Iruka’s thighs and plucks the carton of ice cream out of Iruka’s hands, pulling his mask down with his free hand. Iruka gamely hands over the spoon when Kakashi motions for it.

“It did. I’d tell you more, but you know how it is.”

“Ah, yes. The mysterious ways of shinobi,” Iruka teases.

He raises a hand for the spoon, expecting it to be returned to him. Kakashi ignores him and takes a bite. He keeps eating until Iruka shoves at him.

“Aren’t you going to ask how I am?”

Kakashi hums, feigning thoughtfulness. “You look good, so I suppose I assumed you’re doing well. Am I wrong?”

“You’re very annoying,” Iruka sighs. “I had everything set up so well, but you couldn’t follow our well-established pattern. Two years of the same welcome home routine, and this is the time you decide to mix things up.”

Frowning, Kakashi twists around so he can look down at Iruka. “What’s going on, Iruka?”

Iruka turns up his nose and sniffs. “I don’t think I want to talk to you right now.”

_So, it really isn’t something bad. That’s something._

“What if I give you the last of my ice cream?” Kakashi offers, holding out the carton. “It’s your favorite kind.”

“You call it your ice cream, yet I’m the one who bought it.”

“But it lives in my freezer.”

Iruka grumbles but accepts the offering. As he tilts it to find what’s left, he says, “Ask me how I am.”

“Okay, how are you?”

“I’m doing very well, Kakashi. Thank you.” He scoops up a bite and looks up at Kakashi as he pops it into his mouth. “Now ask me how long I’ll be staying.”

Kakashi’s good mood stutters. They’ve learned that it’s better if he doesn’t ask. Iruka tells him the morning he leaves or Kakashi tells him he has to leave for a mission, and that’s as much acknowledgment as they give their limited time together.

“Already? But I just-”

“Ask me when I’m leaving, Kakashi,” Iruka repeats.

“…When are you leaving, Iruka?”

Iruka shrugs, but the corners of his mouth lift in a smile. “Unless I get called away, not for at least three months. If I were an optimist, I’d say closer to six.”

Kakashi freezes.

“The last few times, I’ve been away longer because I wanted to get as much done in one place as I could,” Iruka continues. “I got everything done that needed doing. There are a few places I’m worried about, but I called in a few favors. Unless things suddenly get a lot worse, I’m all yours for the time being.”

“You…”

“I have a few things to work out with the Fifth, like what I’m going to do now that I’m going to be spending most of my time in Konoha. I have a horrible feeling she wants me to help Shizune or the Missions Desk since I got you to write better reports without knowing what you’re writing, but I’m not a ninja, so that could cause problems, but-”

Kakashi bites his finger, and Iruka’s face twitches.

“I love you, Kakashi, and I appreciate the implication that my return would be something that could trap you, but watching you bite yourself like that will never stop being disgusting.”

“You really are my Iruka, aren’t you?” Kakashi asks.

“Of course I am.” Iruka sets the carton of ice cream on the floor. “You should say welcome home and kiss me.”

He’s grinning, and Kakashi has to take a shaky breath before he says, “Welcome home.”

 _Maybe a little isn’t such a bad thing,_ Kakashi thinks as he drops his head for a kiss. _I had to start somewhere to get here._

On the other side of the door, Naruto shouts, “Sensei!”

“Why is he here already?” Kakashi whines. “I just got you back.”

“Iruka-sensei, let’s get something to eat before Kakashi-sensei gets back! You promised!”

Kakashi groans. “Go on. It’s your ritual.”

Iruka quirks a brow at him. “I promised to buy you dinner!” he shouts, turning his head toward the door. “Come back in two hours!”

Naruto doesn’t say anything for a long time, but Kakashi can tell he’s still there.

“Kakashi-sensei is already back, isn’t he?”

Iruka snorts. “He is. How about I come get you when it’s time to eat?”

Naruto whines, but he wanders off without further argument.

“How did he know you were back?” Kakashi asks, stopping Iruka from leaning up at kissing him with a hand on his chest.

“You weren’t home yet, and I missed him.”

“And you thought he’d wait until dinnertime to come get you.”

Iruka coughs, and his face turns red. “Tsunade told me you were due home today and I got distracted.”

Kakashi takes his hand off Iruka’s chest but flops down on him before Iruka can stretch up. “I wanted to keep you to myself, you know. I had plans, Iruka. What am I supposed to do now?”

“I wonder.” Iruka runs his fingers through Kakashi’s hair. “You’ve got a very nice bed, and my feet do hurt from walking so much. That seems like a promising combination.”

“You’re tricking me into carrying you over for a nap.”

“I’ve done that in the past, but I’ve been home for hours. I already took a nap. If I want to take another one, I’ll have to do something pretty strenuous.” He taps Kakashi’s chin. “What could do that, I wonder?”

Kakashi hums, giving the question due consideration.

“I might have an idea, Iruka.”

“Is that so?”

Swinging himself upright, Kakashi smoothly gets to his feet. Smiling to himself, Kakashi says, “Last one to the bed has to clean up.”

Two minutes later, Kakashi walks into the bedroom, rubbing his hip. “I can’t believe you pushed me.”

“I can’t believe you thought I didn’t know you were trying to get out of cleaning up even though it’s your turn,” Iruka says cheerfully. “I didn’t started to get undressed while I waited for you to get up, though. That was very nice of me.”

Kakashi shakes his head, but Iruka pulls him close and says, “I love you, you know.”

“I love you, too,” Kakashi tells him. The happiness of having Iruka home more will sink in later. “If there was any ice cream left in the carton and it gets on the floor, though, you’re cleaning it up.”

**Author's Note:**

> I sacrificed a lot of things like accuracy and basic comfort to put Iruka in a perpetual kimono, but I stand by that decision.
> 
> I don’t stand by the pacing, but I did try. Naruto World's chakra is partly spiritual energy but trying to distinguish between it and my nonsense got very messy, so um. Sorry 😅
> 
> The actual legend of black dogs makes me really sad, so I changed it.
> 
> Come say hi on [tumblr](https://asotin.tumblr.com) if you'd like to!


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